hello, you're watching afternoon live, i'm simon mccoy. today at 2. "patients dying in hospital corridors as safety is compromised by ‘intolerable' conditions", the warning from doctors in a letter to the prime minister.. this is stuff that has not happened over the last few weeks, this has been progressive change and deterioration over the last year in particular with increased numbers of very sick patients. plastic—free supermarket aisles and a 5p bag charge extended to small shops, theresa may pledges to eradicate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042. time running out, hundreds of rescuers comb wreckage in southern california searching for those still missing after mudslides that have killed 17. the police hunt for robbers armed with axes who seized millions of pounds worth ofjewellery from a shop at the famous ritz hotel in paris. coming up, all of the sport, and johanna konta, tough task.

yes, really tough, she made it to the semifinals of the australian open two years ago but she could face a tough route, if she is to get there this time around, the draw has been made, we will tell you her potential opponents at half—past. and in the weather forecast, looking quite tough ahead. big contrast, rainy in the south—east, glorious sunshine in the west, all of us at risk from some fog through tomorrow night and tomorrow morning. also coming up, tributes to the man behind metal ‘s biggest riffs, motorhead guitarist "fast" eddie clarke has died. it's a very bleak picture

of the nhs this winter and it's painted in a letter from doctors to the prime minister. they say that patients are dying in the corridors of accident and emergency units in england and wales as safety is compromised by "intolerable" conditions. and the pressure is growing: nhs staff have been faced with rising numbers of flu cases and respiratory illness with 48 flu—related deaths in england so far this winter. our health correspondent catherine burns reports. is that the one that you want? yeah. voiceover: rosie dawson was in severe pain when she went to a&e last week. she had a gynaecological problem and was bleeding heavily, but the hospital was so busy that she was examined on a trolley in a busy corridor. i think i was trolley number 12 and there were trolleys going all the way up. you can't see to someone's dignity, you can't ensure they are having a private conversation and that if they break down in tears, which i think i did, i think i'm pretty sure that i cried as well, but you can't look into anybody‘s kind of right to privacy or anything like that. today, doctors from almost half

the a&e units in england and wales have written to the prime minister saying that plans for the winter had failed to deliver anywhere near what was needed. they talk about patients dying in hospital corridors under intolerable conditions. in terms of these winter pressures that we see the nhs under, there have been a number of measures that we have taken that have helped. for example, for the first time ever, urgent gp appointments being available throughout the christmas period. but still, figures from nhs england show that at some point last week, just 3% of hospital trusts in england had enough beds free to provide safe care. they are supposed to have no more than 85% of beds occupied, but on thursday, just four out of 137 trusts were below that safe level. to add to this, more statistics showing that december was the worst month

for a&e waiting times since records began in 200a. three thousand patients in england were not seen within the four—hour waiting target. and so, a warning that this is a watershed moment for the nhs. we have now clearly reached the point where the nhs cannot meet the standards of care that we would, all of us in the nhs, ministers included, want to provide. so the key question is, do we abandon those standards, and none of us in the nhs will do that, or does the government make the decisions it needs to make about the long—term funding and it needs to make those decisions quickly. authorities in wales and northern ireland say they are under pressure too, and a&e waiting times in scotland hit their worst ever levels at the end of december. the message from health care professionals is that despite staff's best efforts, the nhs is chronically underfunded and the government must act soon. catherine burns, bbc news. earlier we heard from one of the 68 senior a&e doctors who wrote to theresa may, saying winter planning has not been adequate and patient safety is at risk. all the doctors stress they are talking not as representatives of their trusts,

but as doctors. she summed up her colleagues' position: this is stuff that has not happened over the last few weeks, this has been progressive change and deterioration over the last year, in particular, with increased numbers of very sick patients coming to the department with lack of capacity and flow, through lots of different emergency departments across the country. when the department is full, the flow is decreased, we cannot get to patients so quickly, and the more patients staying within the department, the sick they may become, and it increases their length of stay. our frustration is that this was predictable and did not require last—minute winter funding, it needed proper investment in the service across the board including social care to improve the flow throughout, not just for

accident and emergency but throughout the hospital. please can we sit down and have a proper conversation and stop putting sticking plasters on little problems to keep them away for a few months ata to keep them away for a few months at a time. let's invest properly where money is needed for something thatis where money is needed for something that is sustainable into the future. our health correspondent catherine burns joins me now. ijust want i just want to talk about this letter, it is very bleak. damning stuff, front line staff from 68 of the hospitals in england and wales, they do not hold back on what they have said, they talk about safety compromises they are making, calling them intolerable. plans for the winter, they say they have failed to deliver anywhere near what was needed. and budgets are chronically underfunded. they talk about some of their own experiences, mentioning patients prematurely dying in corridors in intolerable conditions. talk about patients waiting ten to

12 hours for a bed after the decision has been made to admit them. it is important to say that this is not every single accident and emergency doctor, but it is understood that some were asked to sign itand understood that some were asked to sign it and said no, understood that some were asked to sign itand said no, but understood that some were asked to sign it and said no, but this is a major chunk of the most important people on the front line and this debate will not go away any time $0011. debate will not go away any time soon. not at the heart of this but a majorfactor is, the soon. not at the heart of this but a major factor is, the lack of beds. absolutely, if there is not enough beds in hospitals, patients cannot move. statistics out from nhs england, showing how much pressure the hospital were under, just last week, at some time last week, 3% of hospital trusts in england had enough beds free to provide a safe level of care. enough beds free to provide a safe level of ca re. to enough beds free to provide a safe level of care. to give you more idea, that is four out of 137 trusts. talking about nhs under pressure, winter pressure, public health england have published figures on flu cases, which underline that pressure. it says the

number of flu patients admitted to hospital were two and a half times higher than the same time last week. two and a half times higher than the same time last week. this is quite a spike. also talked about norovirus, thatis spike. also talked about norovirus, that is a five year high, the average for that. last week, an average for that. last week, an average of 944 beds closed every day because of norovirus. adding to the problem, closing beds because of... shortage of beds and then beds are close as well because of the risk of infection. what do the government say? they have put out a statement talking about 68.7% increase in the number of anp consultants, nhs was top priority. —— accident and emergency consultants. it thanks staff for all their work and talks about an increase in doctor training. breaking news, thank you very much. and if you want to find out more about how your nhs

trust is performing, you can use our nhs tracker on the bbc news website. the prime minister has pledged to eliminate avoidable plastic waste within 25 years as part of a far reaching plan to improve britain's environment. she has urged supermarkets to introduce aisles where shoppers can buy products with no plastic packaging. a small charge for disposable plastic bags will also be extended to all shops, notjust big retailers. theresa may called plastic waste "one of the great environmental scourges of our time". but environmentalists have criticised the plans saying they lack "urgency, detail and bite". here's our environment analyst, roger harrabin. a there's huge public anxiety about plastic litter, since david attenborough‘s blue planet series revealed sea creatures

eating plastic waste. the prime minister's surfing that wave of concern, aiming for votes from young people who care deeply about the environment they will inherit. while the water in our rivers and beaches are cleaner than ever before, around the world 8 million tonnes of plastic makes its way into the oceans each year. but is mrs may being ambitious enough? that is 25 years from now. environmentalists are not impressed. we don't think it's urgent enough, we don't think it's robust enough and we don't think it's detailed enough. the oceans, which are bearing the brunt of our addiction to throwaway plastic, can't wait 25 years for solutions. but plastics form just part of the the government's 25—year plan for the environment launched today. the environment is something personal to each of us. but it is also something which collectively we hold in trust for the next generation. and we have a responsibility to protect and enhance it. but it's a crowded island we live on.

woodlands, like here at lodge hill in kent, have been decimated over the decades. this is the uk's prime site for nightingales but the local council wants to build much—needed houses on part of it. if housing development was to go ahead at lodge hill, it would constitute the biggest destruction of one of our finest wildlife sites for 25 years. and at a time when the government has clearly expressed a commitment to restoring nature, it seems madness to conceive, let alone to consent to such a development. a walk in the woods is good for your mental and physical health. the government's acknowledged that. it wants to increase woodland cover, especially near where people live. it wants to bring back wildflower meadows and improve rare habitats like heathlands. but the pressure's on for development. we have a housing target we have to meet of 29,500

between now and 2035, huge demand in medway and in north kent for housing, affordable housing and a whole housing mix, and those houses have to go somewhere. there's pressure on the natural world from road—building too. the department for transport can't foresee a time when new roads won't be needed. the rail line hs2 will damage many ancient woodlands. and the farmers' union is demanding that all prime agricultural land is kept forfarming, not wildlife, to maximise food output. but the government's plan for nature will attempt to bring some nature back to farmland and replenish depleted soils. environmentalists welcome the government's plans to restore britain's nature, but the problem they say that is so far it is just a plan. to really convince them, ministers would need to introduce legislation, and there seems no sign of that.

0ur chief political correspondent vicki young is at our westminster studio. in the times this morning, a former aide to theresa may suggested this was a fairly recent conversion to the environment by the prime minister. this goes back some time, prime ministers are often accused of talking the talk but will they act on it, you will remember david cameron when he first became leader, leader of the opposition, talking a lot about voting blue, going green, it all got pretty much ditched when austerity started to bite. the question now is how serious are the government about it, it is interesting, since michael gove has been put into the department, the department of environment, he wants to raise the profile of the department and make a bit of an impact. talk about plastics, for

example, something they see as an opportunity to attract a different kind of voter. the question is, how farare kind of voter. the question is, how far are they as a conservative government prepared to go. remember the plastic bag tax, the liberal democrats take the credit for that, they say it was their idea, conservatives would never have done it without them, what will the tories now do about that when it comes to first—time use plastic. michael gove saying it was an idea thatis michael gove saying it was an idea that is being considered and how will that go down with his own party? the idea of more regulation, forcing companies to do something, which is often the only way they do decide to act and make a difference, thatis decide to act and make a difference, that is not always popular among conservatives. will be interesting to see whether michael gove and the prime minister and their own mps feel they are willing to go down that road if the voluntary action does not happen. they see this as an opportunity, notjust does not happen. they see this as an opportunity, not just to does not happen. they see this as an opportunity, notjust to get does not happen. they see this as an opportunity, not just to get voters onto their side but to talk about

something different, something other than brexit, and saying they are being ambitious, they want britain to bea being ambitious, they want britain to be a global example of a country that takes the environment very seriously, and they would say, it is not eu regulations that have made the uk do this, clean up the beaches and the seas, written quite often goes further than required, and they clearly wa nt goes further than required, and they clearly want to go a step further. different kind of voter, when you talk about that, you mean a young voter, this is seen as something that appeals to younger people. the conservatives, there has been a change at the headquarters, for the conservative party, they know they did not have a particularly good general election. vote share went up in the under a5, but they did not do very well and they feel the environment is something that appeals to notjust those in their 20s but families concerned about air pollution. it is something that

people care about. conservatives wa nt to people care about. conservatives want to be seen to be talking about the kind of issues that people might be talking about down the pub, may not always be "brexit". in the last couple of hours, nigel farage has gone on television saying that he may you minded more towards a second referendum. this has been backed by arron banks, the co—founder of leave eu. this is quite a vault farce. —— volte face. it is for the opposite reason that vince cable wants a second referendum, the liberal democrats and others say that people have to have the terms of the negotiation, they have dinner what they are voting for, that is why you need a referendum but the lib dems would wa nt referendum but the lib dems would want people to vote to stay in. that is not what nigel farage is thinking, and arron banks, arron banks has said a second referendum would confirm support for "brexit" and then they would win by a landslide. nigel farage and arron

banks talk about true brexit, their fear is the talk of a transition period for example going on for a couple of years when nothing much changes, they feel that would be leaving the eu but only in name. actually, it is not a clean break from the eu, it would effectively stay very much aligned and that is not what they want and they believe it is not what the british people want. remarkably, we are in a position where the former leader of ukip, and the leader of the lib democrats, are in agreement, but for very different reasons. christmas sales figures for retailers have presented a mixed bag this season. marks and spencer sales fell over the key christmas period, while tesco reported record festive trade. a number of major retailers have alluded to difficulties in the market and tough trading conditions. our business correspondent emma simpson reports now on the winners and losers. it worked out all right in the end, didn't it? it did, too, for britain's

biggest retailer. despite problems with their turkeys, tesco's christmas sales were up. food has long been a bright spot for marks & spencer, their premium product, but this christmas quarter sales went into reverse. the grocers have done well. there's food inflation. and we also buy a lot of food over christmas because of entertaining and just eating. so it is very disappointing that marks & spencer hasn't matched the rest of the grocers and i think it's a lot to do with its competition producing very good premium ranges at low prices so it is up against a challenging market, and its clothing hasn't been doing well either. christmas feels like a long time ago now. for retailers, it can be make or break.

0n the high street it's been incredibly challenging. consumers have less money to spend. house of fraser has been really feeling the pressure. it has seen another fall in sales today, but as ever there are winners and losers and this one is in the winner ‘s camp. there is demand there, you just have to find it and create the conditions in which people want things and that comes down to having fabulous products. it means being brilliant in terms of experience people get in your shops has never been more important, and it means you have in your shops has never been more important, and it means you have to be outstanding at online and shops that is something we work very hard to do. in nottingham shoppers seem to be careful in parting with their cash. i had a budget and we tried to stick to it as far as possible. i did it all online because i didn't want to be in the rush of everyone. i normally look at deals with pop—up, normally on facebook or a certain site will be doing e—mails and then i have a look. no surprise then that online accounted for a quarter of non—food shopping last month. a small but fast—growing retailer, boohoo, expects growth of 90% this year.

that is something they can only dream of on the high street. the sales are on, after a quarter that has been farfrom golden, and this year could be just as tough as the last one. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. senior doctors warn that patients are dying in hospital corridors as a&e waiting times in england are at their worst for 13 years. a pledge to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste within 25 years is made by the prime minister as she announces a new government drive on the environment. a woman has appeared in court charged with murder, after police found a body buried in a garden in greater manchester. in sport, johanna konta will play madison brengle of america in the opening round of the australian open, heather watson is up against

kaz exta nt‘s —— open, heather watson is up against kaz extant‘s —— is up against i will be back with more on all of those stories at half—past. a woman has appeared in court charged with murder, after police found a body buried in a garden in greater manchester. barbara coombes, who's 63, is also charged with preventing the lawful and decent burial of a body, and with fraud. 0ur correspondentjudith moritz has been in court. this was a short hearing, just three minutes or so, this was a short hearing, just three minutes orso, and this was a short hearing, just three minutes or so, and barbara coombs, wearing glasses and a fleece jumper, spoke to confirm her personal details. —— barbara coombes. she is

charged with murdering kenneth coombs 12 years ago, 2006, and accused of burying his body and then writing official letters and pretending to be his carer in order to claim money. it is understood that kenneth coombs is barbara coombs's father. her neighbours earlier this week were asked whether they remember kenneth coombs, he would have been in his late 80s, in 2005, the police say that earlier this week, at the weekend, a 63—year—old woman went into a police station and told officers she had killed a man some years ago and buried him in the garden. forensics surge began and human aims were recovered from the garden of barbara coombes, they have not been officially identified and the results of a postmortem examination have not yet been released. barbara coombes has been charged with murder, she will reappear before a court tomorrow morning, manchester crown court, tomorrow morning. the

charges will be presented to her again. in california rescue teams are searching for 17 people who are still missing after the flash floods and mud slides on tuesday. seventeen people are known to have died when a torrent of mud carrying boulders the size of small cars smashed through the town of montecito. more than 100 homes have been destroyed. the area in santa barbara county was onlyjust recovering from the recent devastating wildfires. 0ur north american correspondent james cook is there. in montecito, they are still combing the ruins, looking for survivors. but with every hour that passes, hope fades. the surge of mud and debris was just too powerful. it consumed everything before it, turning homes to matchwood. we had, you know, between us, a dear friend that didn't make it. he lives upstream. and that was brutal. they got blown right out of the house. his wife is still alive. the kids are traumatised, of course. it came really close. it came right up to our hedges.

thank god that it didn't take out our home or our car and our children are safe. but, yeah, our neighbours weren't as fortunate. more than 500 firefighters and other rescue teams have been working around the clock, hoping beyond hope that they can still save lives. i have been a firefighter for 26 years. yeah, for most people that are here on this incident, we have never seen an event like this. parts of the town are still cut off, but some residents have been returning to inspect the damage. the house being gone isjust a house, you know. it'sjust some clothes in a house. but in a neighbourhood this small, every single name that turns up is someone's dad, someone's cousin, someone's teacher, and that's got to be the worst part of it all, i think. i'm just happy for everyone that makes it. the sky lit up because some buildings have blown up. the gas mains, it turns out. here is all this fire coming down, and fire going up, and here is all this rain coming down, and you wonder, what's happening? i mean, it was an incredible experience. that was the bunny that

i missed catching. oh, my gosh. i was in the kitchen, trying to get out through the back when we saw the wall of water coming. i couldn't reach her. we had our dog. grabbed our dog. we grabbed our dog by the collar, but missed the cats and the cat and the bunny and the water hit and knocked out... went to our house, took everything. but somehow, in the cage... the firefighters found her and we found this on top of our car. i thought i would find a dead bunny in it, but she was alive. amazing. the mudslide didn't just claim lives, it paralysed this part of california. this is the main motorway along the pacific coast, the 101 freeway. police say it will not be open until monday at the earliest. the trauma will last much longer. james cook, bbc news, montecito. two men are on the run in france after taking part in a smash

and grab raid on the ritz hotel in paris. three other members of the gang were caught at the scene but the pair who escaped made off with an estimated £3.5 million worth of jewels as dan johnson reports. a large police response outside the paris ritz, after a gang armed with axes carried out a violent raid. it isn'tjust the christmas lights that sparkle here. there are jewels on display to match the wealth of the guests at one of the world's most exclusive hotels. the robbers arrived in place vendome on scooters at around six in the evening local time, smashing windows on the ground floor of the hotel. it is estimated they tookjewels worth a million euros. but police officers interrupted the raid and arrested three of the five men. paris has seen this before.

in october, 2016, us reality tv star kim kardashian had a gun put to her head as a gang stole 10 million euros—worth of her jewellery. only one piece was never seen again. it is not clear how much was recovered from this latest raid. police are still searching for two of the men involved. don johnson, bbc news. time for a look at the weather forecast, helen is here, happy birthday for bbc weather. absolutely, 63 years since we first we nt absolutely, 63 years since we first went on air, january 11, 1954, first television weather forecast. and it was that man there. sitting there, on the telephone. george cowling. sadly not with us anymore but you can see with the weather charts, distinct lack of monitors, television screens, computers... all done by hand. this gentleman has a

synoptic chart, that he has been analysing, we did not have the computers we have now that forecast the weather, it had to be done by hand and by moving it forward, if you like, looking at wind. moving weather fronts forward to see where they would be in 24, 48 hours. charming man, he knew the way to a lady ‘s heart. he gave her some of his old weather maps! yes, and... he livesjust around his old weather maps! yes, and... he lives just around the corner from me, andl lives just around the corner from me, and i met him, with the 50th anniversary, back in 2004... moved your left so we can see him. there we go, this is the old weather chart, lots of whether magazines, he donated them to me, for my calls, and being a young junior forecaster. this is how it would have looked on television in those days. —— calls. “ cause. television in those days. —— calls. -- cause. some people will be telling us on twitter, why not go

back to those days, looks much clearer. step back in time! laughter bring us the forecast. was not too long after that that we had a programmes. how do you follow that(!) that child will have seen the sunshine in the east i am sure, but we have it in the west, a beautiful shot from lyme regis, a lovely shot from the highlands, don't you want to be there, definitely if you live in the east. this is how it looked in scarborough, it is raining outside in london. it is quite a contrast really, stark contrast in the weather and really quiet weather. this isjust the remnants, it does not take a really active weather front to make it great and miserable, that is what it is like outside. cloud will come and go through the evening and overnight, the fog that has lingered in northern ireland will thicken up again and in other parts of the country. patchy in nature, it will

of course increase your travel time, and with temperatures to freezing in the countryside, it will be freezing fog as we had in the morning. not very pleasant as we wake up tomorrow morning. signs now of a change, weather front coming in from the we st weather front coming in from the west as we saw on george's chart earlier, freshening the breeze, the falkirk should clear readily, and across scotland, northern england, again, reluctant through the morning hours to clear away, as it will through the welsh marshes. foggy weather, parts of dorset, somerset, across devon, potentially, and central southern england, even with the weather front in the east, a little fog. starting too thin. the hope is, not only will we lift the fog more quickly, and may well lift a bit more quickly across the southeast but come tomorrow night, really looks quite wet across northern ireland, four or five after a day of seven or 8 degrees only. as we head through saturday, wet weather, quite a change here,

elsewhere, just spots of rain in the breeze and a lot of cloud again, looks quite grave. stay with us, change is on the way, brightness coming in. that weather front fizzles out to all but nothing by the time we get to sunday, ahead of the time we get to sunday, ahead of the next weather change, if you like stopjust the next weather change, if you like stop just mostly the next weather change, if you like stopjust mostly dry, elizabeth of dampness in the air and a lot of cloud. sunday night and into monday, sweeps through, heavy rain again, not welcome, gale force winds, and behind it, baleful swings, chance of seeing some behind it, baleful swings, chance of seeing some snow. behind it, baleful swings, chance of seeing some snow. not exclusively, cold air is weaving right the way across the country, cold enough out there in the fog today but this will bea there in the fog today but this will be a proper blast of arctic air and potential is there for snow. at the moment, fog is the major concern. this is bbc news — our latest headlines: accident and emergency waiting times in december were the worst for 13 years. separately, senior nhs doctors have written to the prime minister warning care is being compromised and claim some patients

are dying prematurely. an environmental plan for the future — theresa may pledgse to eradicate all avoidable plastic waste in the uk by 2042. searching for survivors — 17 people are still missing after the mudslides and flash floods in southern california that left 17 dead. two men are still on the run after armed robbers seized millions of euros' worth of merchandise from a jewellery shop at the famous ritz hotel in paris. and severing business ties — youtube takes action over logan paul, the controversial vlogger who posted a video showing the body of an apparent suicide victim in japan. in a moment: remembering ‘fast eddie' — the last surviving member of motorhead's classic line—up, eddie clarke, has died at the age of 67. sport now on afternoon live with jessica creighton. we are talking tennis, and roger federer is back to try to retain his

australian open title? yes, good afternoon. at the ripe old age of 36 he returns to the court at a grand slam, up against the former britain aljaz bedene, now representing slovenia. they will play each other in the first round. i spoke to last week about all the injury worries about the big tennis stars, stan wawrinka, rafa nadal, and as far as we know they are all playing at this point but they could still pull out, of course, and i mentioned federer, in the same half of the draw as novak djokovic, and they could meet in the semifinals. fans and organisers must be rubbing their hands with glee at the thoughts of that much. i bet. and no andy murray? what about other brits? yes, kyle edmund will be the only brit in the single straw, but there are concerns over his fitness, having injured his ankle —— singles draw.

johanna konta, she got to the semifinals last year and the quarterfinals before but to get to that stage again she could face the former and current world number ones, so a tough test for her if she is to get to the latter stages of the tournament. here is our tennis correspondent with the details... johanna konta has won only one of their four matches. her opponent is currently 92 in the world. if konta makes progress she will be having some challenging matches but given how she finished last season, losing five in a row, she will relish that opportunity at a venue where she has a very good record. she could play a recent world number one, pliskova, in the fourth round and the current world number one simona halep in the quarterfinals, but that's a conversation for another day. heather watson meanwhile will start against the world number 50 from kazakhstan, a player ranked slightly

higher than she is. if you look at the men's draw, kyle edmund being the only brit after andy murray pulled out. what a tough draw he has. yes, it will be just kyle edmund in the men's draw for great britain. and it is tough, as you say, against kevin anderson. they played at roland garros in the third round last year and he ultimately lost in five sets. the advantage for edmund, if he is one of these people who sees the glass as half full rather than half empty he can beat him in the opening round and he is playing well, assuming his ankle scare from last week's events in brisbane is not a major concern, he would find himself in a reasonably favourable section of the draw after that. that was russell fuller their reporting, and the australian open gets underway on monday. that was russell fuller there reporting, and the australian open gets underway on monday.

england's one day side have beaten a cricket australia 11 team, in a warm—up match in sydney. just four days after that 4—0 ashes series defeat, the tourists switched formats and recorded a much—needed five—wicket victory. their opponents had just one full international in matt renshaw. having restricted the hosts to 258 for nine, captain eoin morgan hit an unbeaten 81 to lead his side to victory. james vince and mark stoneman have kept their places in england's test squad for the tour of new zealand, despite struggling with the bat in that ashes defeat. there's a first test call—up for 2a—year—old lancashire batsman liam livingstone, while bowler mark wood is also in the 16—man squad. a bit surprised, to be honest — i'm pleased to be back in. i think that with obviously tom curran and jake ball being part of ashes squad, and i felt they did pretty well, i was surprised obviously to get the call. but it is nice to be back involved and it is something that i have wanted to get back in and hopefully i have got a point to prove and can i do well.

that series gets underway on sunday, as far as that series gets underway on sunday, as faras i'm that series gets underway on sunday, as far as i'm aware, in sydney. that is all the sport for now, simon. jess, thanks very much. back to the nhs situation. joining me now from central london is paul cosford, medical the nhs of public health england — who is here to put some "myths to bed" about flu. are much worse is at the last year? it includes people dealing with

consequences of the flu as well. we will be monitoring this very carefully the season. i think the key a nswer to carefully the season. i think the key answer to your question, they are high levels we are seeing this year, higher than recent years, but not unprecedented. is there any evidence the flu jabs and the very big publicity before the winter for people to get them, is that being effective? of course we all have a part to play in reducing the harm due to flu. there are two things we are doing on that. firstly, encouraging everybody in an eligible group, including health care workers, to get the vaccine if you haven't already done so, and! vaccine if you haven't already done so, and i have written this morning to the chief medical officer and the nhs england medical director, to all staff, to encourage them to do that. of course we all have our part to play which is why we are launching catch it, bennett, kill it campaign, reminding all of us to when we cough or sneeze captured in a tissue, so

that away and wash your hands afterwards. if we can reduce the spread of flu in that way that will help us to bring this flu season to a close sooner than we otherwise would. paul, one of the difficulties, there are of course many strains of the flu. a lot of talk about aussie flu. it was around last year, then it hit australia... is that right? a bit of a misnomer. what is called aussie flu is a strain of flu a, the stream we saw mostly in the uk last winter. it is the strain that caused such a lot of problems in australia over our summer, there are winter. —— and they are winter. there is a significant amount of that the season, but this season we have three different strains circulating. the vaccine is the who recommended are well matched to those strains except one is called the flu b strain which is not in one of the vaccines, but that strain is one

which along with all flu b strains tends to attract children more than adults and older people, and i am pleased to say that the children's vaccine programme we have had this year includes the strains, all of them, including that one, and of course by getting and protecting children, they tend to be super spreader is so that also protects theirfamilies, friends spreader is so that also protects their families, friends and those around them, so that looks as if we will have had a very successful children's campaign again this year as we did last year. well, that is positive. let's end on ten. the word pandemic, i have seen it appearing places —— end on this note. pandemic, i have seen it appearing places -- end on this note. a pandemic is a spread of a completely new strain we have not seen before and then of course the worry is the whole population is susceptible and with the strains we see circulating there will be many in the population who have had the same flu before, so there tends to be better immunity against these strains. what i would

say, we are seeing against these strains. what i would say, we are seeing high levels and of course that is contributing to the pressures on the nhs, and i would like to thank all of our nhs staff for the work they are doing to treat people who have the flu, but they are not unprecedented levels. 0k, good of you tojoin us, thank you very much. from public health england. we will be talking about the way to pressures on the nhs a little later on. —— about the wider pressures on the nhs. universal credit is the biggest welfare reform in decades. but teachers and charities are warning that the new benefit could cause chaos in the provision of free school meals in england. they believe that plans to link eligibility for the free meals to household earnings — which often fluctuate — will also undermine the core principal of the universal credit, that work always pays. 0ur social affairs correspondent, michael buchanan reports. breakfast time at a south london school, a handy aid to working families and those struggling to get by. around half the pupils at charlton manor primary get free school meals, a by—product of getting certain benefits.

but universal credit which families can move on and off when earnings change could make it hard for the school to know who is eligible. it would be very complicated for the school and we would find it hard to be able to monitor and follow that. parents would not understand. one week we are asking for money, the following month, we are not, and i think they would be confused. it is confusing for the school, for the parents, and it is not a good way of doing it. the school has invested heavily in giving children healthy food, currently all families who get universal credit can get free school meals. the department for education plans to restrict provision. in future, families whose earnings are less than £7400 a year before benefits will qualify. the school has a complete commitment to healthy eating, it has its own garden for growing vegetables, it has even got chickens forfresh eggs. what campaigners say is that the consultation was an opportunity for the government

to reassess free school meals, to see them not as a cost but as an investment in the future, to help tackle in particular the growing problem of childhood obesity. as universal credit is rolled out across the country, ministers say it is unaffordable to give all families on the benefit free school meals — it would cost about £600 million. they say their plans will see 50,000 more children getting free food than currently do so, but charities take a dim view of the planned restrictions. there is evidence it increases attainment, it increases concentration in the afternoon, and for most of the children in poverty it can mean the difference between getting a nutritious meal in that day and not getting anything at all. a consultation on these plans for england ends today. similar restrictions have been announced for scotland and northern ireland. whatever the benefits of free school meals, the cost of extending provision is deciding policy. michael buchanan, bbc news, south london. just to bring you an update on the

situation of the black cab rate this who is about to be released, john worboys, and if you were watching the programme yesterday you would have heard from the lawyer who represents some of the victims. he said that many of the victims who we re said that many of the victims who were not asked to give evidence against him at his trial are asking for further prosecutions to be considered. we arejust for further prosecutions to be considered. we are just hearing that lawyers have in fact asked for 93 cases that worboys was not prosecuted for to be reassessed. in a letter from the lawyer it says, as you would expect our clients were shocked and dismayed to learn of

worboys‘ imminent release. there was a failure worboys‘ imminent release. there was afailure in worboys‘ imminent release. there was a failure in the system, failure to put in place proper measures to protect victims. and they are now asking the cps to have a look at 93 cases of which he was not prosecuted. that is an update on that story for you. a paramedic who was one of the first at the scene of the grenfell tower disaster has avoided a driving ban after being caught speeding at 116mph. david hickling was caught while off duty on the a55 near caerwys in flintshire in july. he admitted breaking the 70mph speed limit, but said a driving ban would cost him hisjob. the incident occurred three weeks after the grenfell fire and a psychotherapist‘s report showed that hickling was under exceptional stress. flintshire magistrates have given him a fine and six points on his driving licence. in a moment, the business news with egon. first, a look at the headlines on afternoon live: senior doctors warn that patients

are dying in hospital corridors, as a&e waiting times in england are at their worst for 13 years. a pledge to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste within 25 years is made by the prime minister as she announces a new government drive on the environment. a woman has appeared in court charged with murder, after police found a body buried in a garden in greater manchester. hello. here's your business headlines on afternoon live: it looks as if the big retailers had mixed set of fortunes over the vital christmas period. tesco, waitrose and john lewis all saw a jump in sales. but the likes of marks & spencer and house of fraser had disappointing sales. we'll have more on this in a moment. one of the country's s oldest amusement parks has been saved. dreamland in margate went into administration in 2016. but it's now secured

£35 million of investment which will save more than 250 jobs. foreign students are worth an astonishing £20 billion to the economy, according to the higher education policy institute. it says this benefits almost every part of the economy, and any fall in their numbers would hurt jobs. christmas may seem like a distant memory, but it's a vital period for retailers of course — and they've been telling us how much they sold over the christmas period. mixed picture. yes, big spenders like you and i helped to give these companies are a lot of their revenue for the year, and as you say, i really mixed picture. if you look at the likes of marks & spencer, there are sales fell, notjust over but over the entire three—month period at the end of last year. if you leap over to the other side of the high street, as it were, john lewis, sales there, they were up about 3%, and tesco, their sales were up 2%

and tesco, their sales were up 2% and they were particularly strong when it came to selling festive food and drink. really? ithought when it came to selling festive food and drink. really? i thought there was trouble with their turkeys? their turkeys were perhaps an issue but they were still able to beat the likes of marks & spencer in terms of the broader range of festive fare. tesco's performance has some thinking they may have turned a corner on what had been a rather difficult year. well, tesco is emerging as one of the winners this christmas. i think we have to point out that they'll never return to their former glory, because there hasjust been too much structural change in the market with the rise of online and discounters. but overall, you know, very strong numbers coming from tesco. the ship has been steady, their turnaround strategy is finally bearing fruit, and they've done a lot to focus on the customer, reducing prices and making the shopping experience more pleasant. into the united states, immigration

policy, some years they are? yes, this has caused a lot of controversy and right now it is causing concern for the business community. the boss of the chambers of commerce reckons his policies will affect the legal status of about a million people and he says that is simply bad for business. let's catch up with samira hussain in the new york stock exchange for us looking at this. what exactly are the concerns? we have heard from the us chamber of commerce a lot when it came to some of the protectionist language regarding trade we have been hearing from the white house. but right now what the us chamber of commerce is really worried about is the impact of reversing the dreamers akpan impact it will have on the 1 million people that are part of this —— dreamers act. a big proportion of the us workforce are undocumented

immigrants and the white house has been cracking down on them. most re ce ntly we been cracking down on them. most recently we saw on wednesday that immigration officials doubted cracking down on corner stores called 7—115 and us officials are saying you can start expecting more of this but of course the other big impact on the us workforce. yes, this story will run on. samira, thank you very much. we will look at the market is a little later. egon, for now, thank you very much. video bloggers — or vloggers as they're known — can do big business online on sites such as youtube. some of the most famous post videos which are watched by millions and millions of people around the world. but now youtube has cut some

business ties with the video blogger logan paul, after he was heavily criticised for posting a video appearing to show the body of a suicide victim. this report from our correspondent chi chi izundu. 0ne one of the most popular youtube vloggers, but last night youtube said it was cutting some business ties with logan paul over a video he posted at the end of last month. the video, which we can't show, featured a dead body of a man who appeared to have taken his own life. it had been viewed millions of times before logan removed it from this channel. ina logan removed it from this channel. in a statement you chip acknowledged it had taken a long time to respond but that it also had been listening to comments and criticisms. it added it recognise the actions —— it recognise the actions of one creature could affect the whole community. it said it would take steps to make sure a similar videos we re steps to make sure a similar videos were not circular did again.|j steps to make sure a similar videos were not circular did again. i have made a severe and continuous lapse in myjudgment made a severe and continuous lapse in my judgment and made a severe and continuous lapse in myjudgment and don't expect to be forgiven. and simply had to apologise. youtube said they would put on hold projects with a 22—year—old and that they would no

longer featureless channel on their google preferred programme, effectively lowering his advertising profile with top brands. logan paul is not the only one being criticised. anger is being directed towards you tube with questions over why they did not take the offending post initially in the first place, why it took them so long to issue a statement in response, and why his channel is still up on their platform, allowing him to make money from advertising. a 22-year-old i bought my first house... last year forbes magazine estimated logan paul's 12... it forbes magazine estimated logan paul's12... it is not sure whether with the you tube sanctions this will no shrink considerably. the former motorhead guitarist "fast" eddie clarke has died aged 67. the news was revealed on the band's facebook page, a statement said

they were devastated but that he had passed away peacefully. clarke was considered one of the "classic" members of motorhead, along with frontman lemmy and drummer phil taylor, both of whom died in 2015. joel mciver is the author of 0verkill: the untold story of motorhead, and joins me now via webcam. as facebook has been reflecting a lot of people have been very shocked by this. it was unexpected. as far as people understood, he wasn't in bad health. he had spoken little about some issues, but it has come asa about some issues, but it has come as a real shock, you're right. how big was he. he was known for those classic riffs in metal, wasn't he? you have to understand that motorhead in that classic period we re motorhead in that classic period were made up of these massive personalities, lemmy and the drummer phil taylor, so eddie was the quiet quy phil taylor, so eddie was the quiet guy in between and he did enormous work with music and song writing. he

was less in the public eye because the other two were complete nutters, and were always being quoted on various subjects and reported as doing all sorts of crazy stuff, which he also did, but to sum up what he did, he was the glue between those two crazy people and an amazing guitar player. in terms of hits, ace of spades, bomber, the ones that stick out? yes, some others songs are not as well—known as ace of spades which has kind of been a millstone around their necks. but there were songs eddie participated in from the early motorhead period, and those were 0verkill, bomber, ace of spades, all iconic albums in the heavy metal world and his presence was all over

them, stamped heavily in that period. not a bad one to have around your neck, ace of spades? yes, and in his later years he used to sing eight of spades because nobody could hear the difference. laughter he had some later projects? yes, and his later project never quite achieved its potential, didn't quite match up to motorhead. if you really wa nt to match up to motorhead. if you really want to examine his post motorhead career and look elsewhere from the obvious big songs you would maybe look at the blues album he released three years ago which was really good, unexpectedly good. he did a greatjob of good, unexpectedly good. he did a great job of that. thank you for your time. time for the weather with adam. —— helen. the weather today has not been without its problems, the fog quite stubborn in areas and

we have some lovely sunny pictures sentin we have some lovely sunny pictures sent in by our weather watchers, this one from devon. that weak front is still giving leaden skies in scarborough. even here there are a few breaks in the cloud and we have the remnants of the sunshine for the west. of course as the sun goes down the fog will thicken up. similar risks of mist and fog tonight. with our weakening front for the east there will be some holes in that and we could see fog at lower levels. clearly some warnings about ready for that. temperatures will fall close to freezing is just like this morning that could be some freezing fog around. into friday, we are starting to pick up more breeze for northern ireland. initially some fog through the morning, but that she had lived fairly readily through the morning rush, but not in the mainland of scotland or indeed in the north—west of england where it looks like there will be thick fog again. parts of east anglia and the

south—east could also see fog. cold and a murky start. as well as the fog there is still the rather weak from across eastern areas keeping it great as well. for one reason or another quite a miserable start for many of us. this wet system in the east, and this is the big change in the west, starting quite wet as the rain arrives through the night. but that will tend to fizzle out, leaving however milder weather for most of us and not much fog on saturday morning. still a lot of cloud and quite great, and this time with some rain, albeit rather late, into the western fringes of england, wales and scotland. it starts to dry up wales and scotland. it starts to dry up in northern ireland. temperatures will not recover much because it is quite cold and we are still sitting under a lot of cloud, almost swamped by the next system, come sunday. not really reaching eastern areas but still a lot of cloud around and it is with this system the big change

comes about, sevens and eights, the relatively mild. then we are potential in for some cold weather, which could be quite wet and windy as well. hello, you're watching afternoon live, i'm simon mccoy. today at 3. "patients dying in hospital corridors as safety is compromised by ‘intolerable' conditions", the warning from doctors in a letter to the prime minister.. this is stuff that hasn't happened over the last few weeks, this has been progressive deterioration over the last year in particular with increased numbers of very sick patients. plastic—free supermarket aisles and a 5p bag charge extended to small shops as theresa may pledges to eradicate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042. mixed news from the high street

after the all—importa nt christmas trading figures are revealed, falling sales at marks & spencer, but better news elsewhere. time running out, hundreds of rescuers comb wreckage in southern california, searching for those still missing after mudslides that have killed 17. coming up in sport: johanna konta will be up against a former world number one. and in the weather forecast: fog is the main concern, changes afoot, but it will look much colder across the uk. more for you later. also coming up: no more royal support(!),

after the firm which made the queen's lingerie loses buckingham palace's seal of approval. it's a very bleak picture of the nhs this winter and it's painted in a letter from doctors to the prime minister. they say that patients are dying in the corridors of accident and emergency units in england and wales as safety is compromised by "intolerable" conditions. and the pressure is growing: nhs staff have been faced with rising numbers of flu cases and respiratory illness with a8 flu—related deaths in england so far this winter. 0ur health correspondent catherine burns reports. is that the one that you want? yeah. v0|ceover: rosie dawson was in severe pain when she went to a&e last week. she had a gynaecological problem and was bleeding heavily, but the hospital was so busy that she was examined on a trolley in a busy corridor. i think i was trolley number 12

and there were trolleys going all the way up. you can't see to someone's dignity, you can't ensure they are having a private conversation and that if they break down in tears, which i think i did, i think i'm pretty sure that i cried as well, but you can't look into anybody‘s kind of right to privacy or anything like that. today, doctors from almost half the a&e units in england and wales have written to the prime minister saying that plans for the winter had failed to deliver anywhere near what was needed. they talk about patients dying in hospital corridors under intolerable conditions. in terms of these winter pressures that we see the nhs under, there have been a number of measures that we have taken that have helped. for example, for the first time ever, urgent gp appointments being available throughout the christmas period. but still, figures from nhs england show that at some point last week, just 3% of hospital trusts in england had enough beds free to provide safe care. they are supposed to have no more

than 85% of beds occupied, but on thursday, just four out of 137 trusts were below that safe level. to add to this, more statistics showing that december was the worst month for a&e waiting times since records began in 2004. three thousand patients in england were not seen within the four—hour waiting target. and so, a warning that this is a watershed moment for the nhs. we have now clearly reached the point where the nhs cannot meet the standards of care that we would, all of us in the nhs, ministers included, want to provide. so the key question is, do we abandon those standards, and none of us in the nhs will do that, or does the government make the decisions it needs to make about the long—term funding and it needs to make those decisions quickly. authorities in wales and northern ireland say they are under pressure too, and a&e waiting times in scotland hit their worst ever levels at the end of december. the message from health care professionals is that

despite staff's best efforts, the nhs is chronically underfunded and the government must act soon. catherine burns, bbc news. earlier we heard from one of the 68 senior a&e doctors who wrote to theresa may, saying winter planning has not been adequate and patient safety is at risk. all the doctors stress they are talking not as representatives of their trusts, but as doctors. she summed up her colleagues' position: this is stuff that has not happened over the last few weeks, this has been progressive change and deterioration over the last year, in particular, with increased numbers of very sick patients coming to the department with lack of capacity and flow, through lots of different emergency departments across the country. when the department is full, the flow is decreased, we cannot get to patients so quickly, and the more patients staying within the department, the sick they may become, and it increases their length of stay. 0ur frustration is that this was predictable and did not require last—minute winter funding,

it needed proper investment in the service across the board including social care to improve the flow throughout, not just for accident and emergency but throughout the hospital. please can we sit down and have a proper conversation and stop putting sticking plasters on little problems to keep them away for a few months at a time. let's invest properly where money is needed for something that is sustainable into the future. joining me now from central london is niall dickson, chief executive of the nhs confederation. 0n the face of it, reading this letter, it paints a bleak picture. the reality is that in hospitals up and down the land, staff are struggling, our members are finding it increasingly difficult to treat

patients with dignity and to treat them safely, the levels of occupancy in hospitals is far too high, too many patients languishing in corridors, thousands sitting in the back of ambulances. it is notjust hospitals, hospitals in one way our the tip of the iceberg. the reality is that community and social care services are stretched and not meeting demand. gps are at the end of their tether. mental health services likewise. what you are seeing isa services likewise. what you are seeing is a symptom of a system which is gridlocked. is it at breaking point? always difficult to know at what point you say that, we have been arguing consistently with government and with the political class that we need to have a proper look at the future funding of health and social care, notjust the nhs, and social care, notjust the nhs, and look at that over the next ten or 15 years, that is whyjust in the la st or 15 years, that is whyjust in the last day we have launched a major study with the institute for fiscal studies to look at the longer term

funding of health and social care, that does not mean we need to do something in the immediate term but we hope to produce the study by midyear and then try to have a proper political debate. we would love for the government to step forward before then and say they will take this forward seriously and drive it forward. it has to come at a moment when the political class recognised notjust a moment when the political class recognised not just that they are in terrible trouble now but that if we do not act we will be in more trouble over the next ten or 15 years. the problems we are seeing now will get worse because demand is likely to increase. there are increasing calls for national insurance to increase, but also ring fence, so that people know where it is going, nhs and social care, so then everyone knows where it is going, and everyone and the nhs know what they have to spend over a five year period. that is one mechanism, in the run—up to the last alleging

we suggested, and the parties did not follow that, that they should commit toa not follow that, that they should commit to a certain proportion of the economy that they were willing to put forward and say, we will guarantee that, in the same way they do for defence and overseas aid. a mechanism which somehow locks us into how much we are going to spend over a longer period and prevents this argument about half a billion here, putting a few hundred million here. that is not the way to run a service. as we have just seen, you cannot even plan effectively to use the money if the money arrived too late, it arrives with strings attached. we need a new contract, a new agreement between what as a society we need to pay for in order to give us a reasonable health and social care system for the top certainly our members on the front line are finding the band end of this. they are not able to provide the levels of care and treatment

they would like for their patience. —— bad end of this. they would like for their patience. -- bad end of this. this letter from basics ta doctors backs of those who for some time have feared that people are dying because of this. the word crisis comes up, i don't know what you would call it. —— this letter from those 68 doctors backs up letter from those 68 doctors backs up those who for some time have feared that people are dying. corridors are notjust undignified but unsafe, levels of bed occupancy over 85% is described as unsafe. large numbers of hospitals are operating like that and that is because the volume of people they are admitting, not necessarily because the numbers coming to accident and emergency have shot up, but because the level of sickness has shot up, at the other end, the difficulty people have of discharging into the community because social care and community services themselves are very stretched. always good to talk to you, all the best. and if you want to find out

more about how your nhs trust is performing, you can use our nhs tracker on the bbc news website. the prime minister has pledged to eliminate avoidable plastic waste within 25 years as part of a far reaching plan to improve britain's environment. she has urged supermarkets to introduce aisles where shoppers can buy products with no plastic packaging. a small charge for disposable plastic bags will also be extended to all shops, notjust big retailers. theresa may called plastic waste "one of the great environmental scourges of our time". but environmentalists have criticised the plans saying they lack "urgency, detail and bite". here's our environment analyst, roger harrabin. there's huge public anxiety about plastic litter, since david attenborough's blue planet series revealed sea creatures eating plastic waste. the prime minister's surfing that wave of concern, aiming for votes from young people who care deeply about the environment they will inherit. while the water in our rivers and beaches are cleaner than ever before,

around the world 8 million tonnes of plastic makes its way into the oceans each year. she urged supermarkets to introduce aisles where shoppers can buy products with no plastic packaging. a small charge for disposable plastic bags will also be extended to all shops, notjust big retailers. and she announced government funding for plastics innovation. but is mrs may being ambitious enough? she said all avoidable plastic waste should be stopped by 2042. that's 25 years from now. environmentalists are not impressed. we don't think it's urgent enough, we don't think it's robust enough and we don't think it's detailed enough. the oceans, which are bearing the brunt of our addiction to throwaway plastic, can't wait 25 years for solutions. but plastics form just part of the the government's 25—year plan for the environment launched today.

the environment is something personal to each of us. but it is also something which collectively we hold in trust for the next generation, and we have a responsibility to protect and enhance it. but it's a crowded island we live on. woodlands, like here at lodge hill in kent, have been decimated over the decades. this is the uk's prime site for nightingales, but the local council wants to build much—needed houses on part of it. if housing development was to go ahead at lodge hill, it would constitute the biggest destruction of one of our finest wildlife sites for 25 years. and at a time when the government has clearly expressed a commitment to restoring nature, it seems madness to conceive, let alone to consent, to such a development. a walk in the woods is good for your mental and physical health. the government's acknowledged that. it wants to increase woodland cover, especially near where people live. it wants to bring back wildflower

meadows and improve rare habitats like heathlands. but the pressure's on for development. we have a housing target we have to meet of 29,500 between now and 2035 — huge demand in medway and in north kent for housing, affordable housing and a whole housing mix, and those houses have to go somewhere. there's pressure on the natural world from road—building, too. the department for transport can't foresee a time when new roads won't be needed. the rail line hs2 will damage many ancient woodlands. and the farmers' union is demanding that all prime agricultural land is kept forfarming, not wildlife, to maximise food output. but the government's plan for nature will attempt to bring some nature back to farmland and replenish depleted soils. environmentalists welcome

the government's plans to restore britain's nature, but the problem, they say, is that, so far, it isjust a plan. to really convince them, ministers would need to introduce legislation and there seems no sign of that. roger harrabin, bbc news, kent. what is the reaction in the supermarket to this proposal?m what is the reaction in the supermarket to this proposal? it is in supermarkets like this one where consumers will see big changes that the government is bringing in. to avoid what they call avoidable plastic waste. theresa may has announced that the extension of the bag charge will be across all retailers, in stores like

this one they are calling for plastic free aisles as well as charges on single use plastic items such as takeaway boxes. i have been speaking with shoppers to find out what they think of the changes. plastics are everywhere, i am guilty of it too. i have a couple of little kids, and they don't need to be wrapped up are wrapped up. straws are the worst, and use them. it would be so easy to use a hard straw and not the ones you chuck away. my new year '5 resolution is to use a metal bottle for water. i used to much plastic. too much packaging anyway. if you order all this stuff from amazon, i havejust anyway. if you order all this stuff from amazon, i have just bought a new flat, new furniture, the place is drowning in packaging, cardboard, plastic... all kinds of stuff. they

should do something about it. i'm not sure these plastic bags will work, we need something bigger than that, rather than just recyclable plastic bags. if you think about it, go plastic bags. if you think about it, go intoa plastic bags. if you think about it, go into a supermarket and see how much wrapping is put on produce, it is ridiculous, that is the one thing that has happened, it has made me stop using large supermarkets, i push myself to come to grocery stores, and source, where people selling products, go in my bag, put that produce into my bag and take it home. i avoid large supermarkets, specifically because i don't want to keep buying an apple wrapped in a plastic bag. this is part of an environmental week for the government, the conservatives have been under pressure to tackle environmental issues after it emerged as one of the key issues for young voters, not only looking at plastics but sending

aid to developing countries to help to tackle pollution, £10 million to help schools engage with the environment, and looking at other things like increasing woodland cover, hoping to restore endangered habitats. green groups have welcomed this but they say it does not go far enough, the government should be introducing this as law. they say they are not bringing it far enough to tackle the problem. labour say that this is a rebranding exercise for the conservatives. the lib dems have said that 2042, 25 years away, is much too far away, they should be tackling the issue now. joining me now is studentjessica chadwick, who is the environmental 0fficer chadwick, who is the environmental officer at durham university. jessica is here to give us a perspective on young peoples attitudes towards environmental issues already sounds condescending to say that you will give young people's perspective, but the criticism of theresa may is why she

is doing it now, there was a sense in the last election that young people care more about the environment than older people, is that backed up? i think young people are passionate, it is something they ca re are passionate, it is something they care about. for example, when theresa may was pushing for the fox hunting, there was an outcry from young people, especially on social media. it is a small example but definite proof that people really do care. what is yourjob as environmental officer at durham, what do you have to do?” environmental officer at durham, what do you have to do? i was elected environment officer in my college, in that role i control and iam the college, in that role i control and i am the head of environment society, student led society, i liaise with other members of staff, to implement our role. and with other students from around the university. to see that we can do as much as possible. and is the attitude strong enough that, if people see a blue tickle party like this all with the conservatives today try to grasp this, is that

enough for people to say, that is a party i would not normally think of but actually i may look at it.|j think it definitely has the ability to change overall opinions but whether it has the capacity to change a voting choice, another matter. but it is a significant and nothing that more party should make an effort to consider the environment, it is such a crucial issue. people watching, some older, saying, it is easy to say we support this and that for students, but it is quite a different thing to actually do something about it. that tends to be the job of those whose jobs are involved in that. what you say them? it is very easy to speak about ideas and say, it would be lovely to do this and this and this but there are ways to end meant those ideas, and especially within college, although it is a smaller scale than an entire nation, we try

to do our best in running awareness weeks and campaigns, and fundraising for local charities and initiatives that matter to us, and can make a real visible impact on the community and the environment. you haven't mentioned politicians or politics, are they seen as a way to help problems like this or are they seen asa hindrance? problems like this or are they seen as a hindrance? this is probably my personal opinion than a voice for all students, but i think quite often, politicians have quite niche knowledge about things, and therefore, there are very few scientists that go into politics and potentially more scientists with statistics background is would be able to actively look at which policies would generally have the most impact and focus on those, focus on research and development. as opposed to being like, in 25 yea rs' as opposed to being like, in 25 years' time there will be no plastic bag usage(!)... you feel years' time there will be no plastic bag usage(!) . .. you feel that years' time there will be no plastic bag usage(!)... you feel that is so long. 25 years' time, i will be an

actual adult(!) and actual adult, which is far too far away! laughter and i mean... ithink those which is far too far away! laughter and i mean... i think those are good games, they are important things, but if they just games, they are important things, but if theyjust brought games, they are important things, but if they just brought the deadline that bit closer, it would be like 0k, they are making a stance on the environment and they will do something about it. thank you very much for coming in and i think that you are already teaching adults a lesson, thank you very much for joining us. breaking news, chris williamson will stand down from the labour front bench, he was the shadow fire minister, he says he will be standing down with immediate effect so standing down with immediate effect soi standing down with immediate effect so i can return to the backbenches where i will be campaigning on a broader range of issues, i will continue to loyally support the leadership ofjeremy corbyn from the backbenches and hope to be a voice for the party ‘s members. jeremy corbyn has given his reaction, i'm grateful for his work on fire safety

particularly following grenfell tower, on the backbenches he will be a strong campaign on a range of crucial issues as well as serving his constituents with dedication. nowhere is there clear indication to why he has done it but may be linked toa why he has done it but may be linked to a story where in the last 24 hours, chris williamson, seen as an ally of the labour leader, said, dublin council tax bills was something the party should consider. he said he had a lot of support among labour activists. the proposal was attacked by the conservatives but also went against the policy of the labour party. he has said his idea was not labour policy. but controversial nevertheless. and as you can see from here, he has resigned from his post as shadow fire minister. much more later on. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines sixty—eight senior a&e doctors write

to the prime minister saying patient safety is at risk in england and wales due to inadequate planning for winter. plastic—free supermarket aisles and a 5p bag charge extended to small shops —theresa may pledges to eradicate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042. 0n the high street, "ow sz 777—777? a—

its? same venue eiéizl'i>—:f'f~w-< its? same venue where '¥f¥¥~*'-< .~.-..-.-..-.—..-..—.-..- w.- .ler. .——.-.‘ a;.~.:.——.—.—-.;.-g.~.—>.—. —— — —————— .a.-.aa..-.a..-..—.-..- w.- .laa. aaaaa. aaaag—eaggygaga; —— — —————— £3 aaaaaaaaa w.- .laa aaaaa aaaaa—a—aa-aa—aa —— — —————— iailed a doping aaaaaaaaaa w.- .laa aaaaa aaaaa—a—aaaaa—aa —— — —————— failedadoping £2177” ”' "f'ti' in ef those ' back with more on all of those stories in about ten the prime minister's spokesman says britain will not hold a second eu referendum after nigel farage said he's warming to the idea. the former ukip leader and brexit campaigner told channel five's the wright stuff programme that he is close aa aaa aaa?- aaileaaeeamfee’s anti—brexit campaigners. my mind is actually changing on this. go on. are you... what is certain is that the cleggs, the blairs, the adonises, will never ever give up. they will go on whingeing and whining and moaning all the way through this process. so, maybe, just maybe, i'm reaching the point of thinking that we should have a second referendum... 0n? because... on what? 0n eu membership. the whole thing? yes, of course, of course. unless you want to have a multiple—choice referendum. no, no, no.

which would confuse people. i think if we had a second referendum on eu membership, we'd kill it off for a generation. i'm amazed... the percentage that would vote to leave next time would be very much bigger than it was last time round. and we mayjust finish the whole thing off and blaircan disappear off into total obscurity. get in touch on twitter if you would like to leave eight comment about that. two teenage boys have been arrested by officers investigating the murder of a shop worker in north london at the weekend. vijay patel was attacked during an argument in the store in mill hill and died in hospital. our correspondent tom burridge joins me now with more details on this story two more boys have been arrested, important to say that one boy was arrested earlier in the week, subsequently charged with the murder of the jay patel, on tuesday, appeared in court yesterday, these

are two more teenage boys, 16 and 15, arrested on suspicion of causing violent disorder, alleged to be there at the time. —— vijay patel. the incident happened just before midnight, saturday night, mr patel was working in a newsagents, fairly affluent was working in a newsagents, fairly afflu e nt pa rt was working in a newsagents, fairly affluent pa rt of was working in a newsagents, fairly affluent part of north london, the three teenage boys went into the store to buy a few items including rizla, the make of cigarette paper, it is alleged after they were denied the sale of the rizla, could you have to be 18 to buy papers, they allegedly then became aggressive, went outside, and when mr patel went outside to check allegedly they were not going to vandalise the shop one of the boys allegedly punched him, fell to the floor, hit his head and died later in hospital. crowdfunding organisation to raise money for his family. he moved to the uk back in 2006, he has been here for a fairly long time, moved from india, he was

working very hard to try to send money to fund the education of his two sons, one is in australia, the other in india. a tragic story. his family have described him as the best man in the world, working all hours of the day and night to fund his son's education. the only ray of light, the local jeweller his son's education. the only ray of light, the localjeweller is community in mill hill has set up a website, a page onjustgiving, aiming to raise one £1000, they have nearly raised £22,000 to support the family of mr patel. -- aiming to raise £1000, they have raised nearly £22,000. colder and more disturbed weather on the way, but it is the lack of wind which is given problems. there has been some sunshine, in the evening and overnight, where there has been sunshine fog will form

readily. in the east, the cloud is starting to break, fog at lower levels, just about anywhere tonight there could be patches of thick fog. obviously, travelling through the evening and overnight and into tomorrow morning. temperatures close tomorrow morning. temperatures close to freezing, could be freezing fog as well we wake up to. like today it will be slow to clear, when it clears there will be a lot of cloud, weather system pushing from the west, and it will bring in more cloud. and it will feel cold as a result. where we see sunshine, five or6 result. where we see sunshine, five or 6 degrees, but at least that will help. as for the weekend, quite a bit of cloud coming in, quite a bit of rain, the main issue is going to be fog. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. accident and emergency waiting times in december were the worst for 13 years.

separately, senior nhs doctors have written to the prime minister warning care is being compromised and claim some patients are dying prematurely. an environmental plan for the future — theresa may pledges to eradicate all avoidable plastic waste in the uk by 2042. searching for survivors — 17 people are still missing after the mudslides and flash floods in southern california that left 17 dead. the labour mp chris williamson has announced he is standing down as shadow fire minister so he can campaign on a wider range of issues from the backbenches. two men are still on the run after armed robbers seized millions of euros worth of merchandise from a jewellery shop at the famous ritz hotel in paris sport now on afternoon live with jessica. roger federer is back in australia at the australian open. at the ripe old age of 36 he is up

against former britain, now representing slovenia, aljaz bedene in the first round, defending his title. we were talking about injury worries, novak djokovic, stan wawrinka, roger federer rafa nadal, but as it stands they are in the drawer and roger federer in the same half as novak djokovic, and they could meet in the semifinals, which isa could meet in the semifinals, which is a tasty looking tie. when you say ripe old age, do you think he is old? no, iam think he is old? no, i am being the dramatic! but, think he is old? no, iam being the dramatic! but, a tennis player with power and in turin is needed, 36 is older than you would imagine. very neatly done, very clever. andy murray will not be playing. which british players are? andy murray is recovering from hip surgery. kyle edmund will be the only british man in the singles draw but even he has

injury worries, and the possibility ofan ankle injury worries, and the possibility of an ankle problem. in terms of the women, the british number one johanna konta likes the australian open, getting to the semis two years ago and quarterfinals last year, but if she's going to get to that stage again she will have to come up against a former and possibly current world number one. incredibly tough draw if she wants to get to the latter stages of the tournament. and this is our tennis correspondent with the details. the havoc on to have only won one of the former opponents. and brengle is a formidable opponent —— johanna konta has only won one against her former opponent. she could see a former opponent. she could see a former world number one later.

watson will start against number 50 in the world. and it will be just kyle edmund in the men's draw for great britain and it is tough against kevin anderson. they play at roland garros in the third round. the advantage for kyle edmund, who is one of those people who believes the glass is half full. what happened in brisbane last week is not a major concern. he would find himself in a reasonably favourable section of the draw after that. australian open tournament director craig tiley has defended the decision to invite maria sharapova to the draw ceremony. with defending champion serena williams missing the tournament, organisers controversially chose sharapova

to represent the women. the russian entered margaret court arena — the same venue where she failed a doping test for meldonium two years ago. but tilley cited sharapova's status as a former champion, with the russian lifting the trophy 10 years ago. james vince and mark stoneman have kept their places in england's test squad for the tour of new zealand, despite struggling with the bat in the ashes defeat. there's a first test call—up for 2a—year—old lancashire batsman liam livingstone, while bowler mark wood is also in the 16—man squad. a bit surprised, to be honest — i'm pleased to be back in. i think that with obviously tom curran and jake ball being part of ashes squad, and i felt they did pretty well, i was surprised obviously to get the call. but it is nice to be back involved and it is something that i have wanted to get back in and hopefully i have got a point to prove and can i do well. england's one—day side have been

known australian team in a warm up match. it was against a cricket australia xi team. four days after the 4-0 australia xi team. four days after the 4—0 ashes series defeat, the tourists which format are recorded a much—needed five wicket victory. nba comes to london tonight as the boston celtics and philadelphia 76ers go head to head at the o2 arena. despite the increasing popularity of basketball in this country, nba chief adam silver says the chances of a british based team are increasing unlikely. if you had said 15 years ago by 2018 there will be a chance you have a tea m there will be a chance you have a team in europe or london i would have said fairly unlikely but we have said fairly unlikely but we have learned more about the impact of travel, changing time zones and fatigue on players especially in the correlation with injuries and we have gone the other way. it is not

something we are ruling out. maybe with time, and we would have to reva m p with time, and we would have to revamp our schedule, so there is no doubt innovation of all kinds will have an impact on our ability. that is all the sport. in the next hour, more with sarah. thank you. more now on the pressures facing the nhs this winter. leading doctors have written a bleak letter to the prime minister, warning that patients are dying in the corridors of accident and emergency units in england and wales — as safety is compromised by "intolerable" conditions. joining me now is dr sarah wollaston, the conservative mp and chairwoman of the health select committee. when you read that letter, what was your reaction? it sets out the scale of the problem and i think the government has to take note this is not the normal turn of events. we are seeing the pressures on the nhs far deeper this winter and will

extend into the summer months unless we ta ke extend into the summer months unless we take action. you said take action, you said take note, what does it mean? there is a challenge facing us and we have, for some time, failed to plan for the increase in demand.. just the number of people turning up to a&e —— not just the number of people turning up. if you get something like flu, norovirus, there is a resilience or give in the system. we need to look at the whole system, notjust give in the system. we need to look at the whole system, not just the nhs but social care what we do around prevention. there is a challenge and it is about the level offunding, challenge and it is about the level of funding, the workforce challenge and how we put in place and bringing the area is not doing so well up to the area is not doing so well up to the levels. there is a major challenge and we need to address

short—term funding issues and need to plan for the future. you appear at odds with theresa may, who said there is not a crisis, because this was planned for and planning has gone into action. the planning has gone into action. the planning has gone into action. the planning has gone into action, and the nhs had to trigger winter plans but i am saying there is not enough resilience in there is not enough resilience in the system in order for those plans not be used when we have something like flu hit the nhs and it is the scale of this that is something i do not think the government has grasped and we need to be realistic about the fact there is more money put into the nhs. but it is not keeping pace with the scale of the increase in demand. if you look over the past seven in demand. if you look over the past seve n yea rs in demand. if you look over the past seven years the increase in funding has been annuallyjust over 1% whereas historically long—term increase has been 4% a year and at a time with a huge increase in demand,

you are seeing a relative squeeze on financing, which is catching up with the nhs and the stark warning this week has been unless we tackle this head on and i'll realistic about the scale of it, what we will see is the nhs aren't able to meet the terms of the nhs constitution. we have a choice. we could say we are not going to increase funding but in that case we need to be realistic about what that means, or the government grasps the scale of the challenge and do something about it. you said the government needs to be realistic and tackled this but how do you tackle a problem with patients dying in hospital corridors? has it gone too far already? we have a major challenge and they will have to open up further bed capacity. there is a workforce challenge also. it is also

about social care, the number of beds in the community, because we are losing community beds. it is a system challenge, plus pulling levers they should be to do something about prevention, such as minimum pricing for alcohol. anybody in an emergency department on friday night will tell you that has an impact. there are things the government needs to do on prevention. there are also things they need to do about funding, the workforce, and things they need to grasp right now and for ask, what we need is political parties to work together to say, what of the options, explain the options, not be brushing each other‘s policies off by calling it dementia tax, death tax, but looking at the options. many people have worked on this. we know what the options are, the

commission, the house of lords, what is needed is the political resolve to work together across party lines and put this in place, explain it to the public and put it in place. thank you. in california rescue teams are searching for people still missing after mudslides. 17 people are known to have died. more than 100 homes have been destroyed and the area in santa barbara county was only just recovering the area in santa barbara county was onlyjust recovering from devastating wildfires. james cook is there. here they are combing the ruins, looking for survivors. but with every hour that passes, hope fades. the surge of mud and debris was just too powerful. it consumed everything before it, turning homes to matchwood. we had, you know, between us, a dear friend that didn't make it. he lives upstream.

and that was brutal. they got blown right out of the house. his wife is still alive. the kids are traumatised, of course. it came really close. it came right up to our hedges. thank god that it didn't take out our home or our car and our children are safe. but, yeah, our neighbours weren't as fortunate. more than 500 firefighters and other rescue teams have been working around the clock, hoping beyond hope that they can still save lives. i have been a firefighter for 26 years. yeah, for most people that are here on this incident, we have never seen an event like this. parts of the town are still cut off, but some residents have been returning to inspect the damage. the house being gone isjust a house, you know. it'sjust some clothes in a house. but in a neighbourhood this small, every single name that turns up is someone's dad, someone's cousin, someone's teacher, and that's got to be the worst part of it all, i think. i'm just happy for everyone that makes it. the sky lit up because some buildings have blown up. the gas mains, it turns out. here is all this fire coming down, and fire going up, and here is all this rain coming down, and you wonder,

what's happening? i mean, it was an incredible experience. that was the bunny that i missed catching. oh, my gosh. i was in the kitchen, trying to get out through the back when we saw the wall of water coming. i couldn't reach her. we had our dog. grabbed our dog. we grabbed our dog by the collar, but missed the cats and the cat and the bunny and the water hit and knocked out... went through our house, took everything. but somehow, in the cage... the firefighters found her and we found this on top of our car. i thought i would find a dead bunny in it, but she was alive. amazing. the mudslide didn't just claim lives, it paralysed this part of california. this is the main motorway along the pacific coast, the 101 freeway. police say it will not be open until monday at the earliest.

the trauma will last much longer. james cook, bbc news, montecito. two men are on the run in france after taking part in a smash and grab raid on the ritz hotel in paris. three other members of the gang were caught at the scene — but the pair who escaped made off with an estimated three—and—a—half million pounds worth ofjewels , as dan johnson reports. a large police response outside the paris ritz after a gang, armed with axes, carried out a violent raid. it isn'tjust the christmas lights that sparkle here. there are jewels on display to match the wealth of the guests at one of the world's most exclusive hotels. the robbers arrived in place vendome on scooters at around six in the evening local time, smashing windows on the ground floor of the hotel. it is estimated they tookjewels worth 4 million euros. but police officers interrupted the raid and arrested

three of the five men. paris has seen this before. in october, 2016, us reality tv star kim kardashian had a gun put to her head as a gang stole 10 million euros—worth of her jewellery. only one piece was never seen again. only one piece was ever seen again. it is not clear how much was recovered from this latest raid. police are still searching for two of the men involved. don johnson, bbc news. ina in a moment of the business but now the headlines. 68 senior a and e doctors write to the prime minister saying patient safety is at risk in england and wales due to inadequate planning for winter. plastic—free supermarket aisles — and a 5p bag charge extended extended to small shops —theresa may pledges to eradicate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042. hundreds of rescuers search people

after in california. here's your business headlines on afternoon live it looks as if the big retailers had mixed fortunes over the vital christmas period. tesco, waitrose and john lewis all saw a jump in sales. but the likes of marks and spencer and house of fraser had disappointing sales. we'll have more on this in a moment. it looks as if one of the country's oldest amusement parks has been rescued. dreamland in margate went into administration in 2016. but it's now secured £35 million of investment which will save more than 250 jobs. foreign students are worth an astonishing £20 billion to the economy, according to the higher education policy institute. it says this benefits almost every part of the economy — and any fall in their numbers would hurtjobs this is the last slice of christmas

figures. and a mixed picture? that is right and the reason it is important is a lot of us celebrate the christmas festive season by spending and spending and spending. a lot of retailers make money. some make up to 50% of earnings over christmas and it is a mixed picture. marks & spencer, they saw sales fall, not just over marks & spencer, they saw sales fall, notjust over christmas but over the last three months of the year. tesco, their sales are up 2% and a similar story forjohn lewis, that saw sales up by about 3%. we can bring in an expert. i'm nowjoined by simon french from panmure gordon. what is the reason for this mixed picture? there does not seem to be a

broad trend. i do not think we should expect a broad trend because there is so much going on in uk retail. there is channel shift with shoppers choosing to shop online rather than in premises and if you area rather than in premises and if you are a bricks and mortar retailer you are a bricks and mortar retailer you are struggling in that environment because more customers choose not to go to your store and there is a trend towards buying more food and fewer electrics and clothing which isa fewer electrics and clothing which is a changing preferences and you have the economic story with wages growing more slowly than prices and people are keeping wallets in their pockets longer. that is right, i was ata pockets longer. that is right, i was at a supermarket and there was a big sale, televisions, and people were not buying them. i asked one person and he said he did not have any money. going back to the online question, what is it that is holding

up question, what is it that is holding up big retailers, the bricks and mortar retailers, from going big on this? they have longer leases and often freehold premises, so they own the bricks and mortar. they are also not actually set up to profit from agile, sort of promiscuous consumers andi agile, sort of promiscuous consumers and i mean by that that they shop around online, sometimes going into the store, so you have the people going in, but they do not complete the transaction there are, and go off and compare online. a lot of details you spoke about in the introduction will have to play a lot of catch up in 2018 to keep pace with boo—hoo, other online only and multichannel retailers winning the market share. thanks. businesses in the us firing a

warning shot at donald trump and his immigration policy. they have been pleased by his reforms on tax but they worried about immigration. the boss of the chamber of commerce there said about 1 million people could have their legal status jeopardised by donald trump's plans for immigration and he thinks it is bad for the economy. we spoke earlier about what they are worried about. we have heard from the us chamber of commerce when it came to protectionist language with regards to trade we have heard from the white house. what the chamber is worried about now is the impact of reversing the dreamers act and the impact on1 reversing the dreamers act and the impact on 1 million reversing the dreamers act and the impact on1 million people reversing the dreamers act and the impact on 1 million people that are apart of this. there is a big part of the us workforce who are immigrants, some not documented, and

so immigrants, some not documented, and so far we have seen the white house crackdown. recently we on wednesday immigration officials started cracking down on corner stores, 7-115. cracking down on corner stores, 7—11s. and officials said you can expect more of this but it will have a big impact on the workforce in the us. and a quick look at the markets. good news on the ftse. marks & spencer, we have heard about them and that is reflected in the share price. the tesco number is not as good as analysts expected which is why theirfigures good as analysts expected which is why their figures have gone down in terms of share price. adrian chiles takes over tonight as the new host of five live's question time extra time. if you already listen to the programme, you'll know that it provides in—depth analysis of bbc one's question time. adrian joins me now. it isa it is a shiny new programme, are you feeling shiny and new? it is as

shiny and new programme but i do not feel remotely shiny or indeed new! but i will not let it stand in my way of producing a decent programme. a bit like radio does tv. you will be able to see us, as soon as the programme finishes i will be with chris mason, the political correspondent, among my favourites in thatjob, he will be in the studio and we have three question time and she is across the whole thing. it is to big up question time as the institution it is. i did a piece on the history of question time and it has had amazing moments and it is great to be part of that story but also with listeners‘ help, we wa nt story but also with listeners‘ help, we want to analyse the real content and celebrate the more absurd moments. for instance, my particular

favourite, the big round of applause when somebody says something the audience likes but the beautiful moment when somebody makes a great speech and they expect a big round of applause, and nothing comes. we wa nt to of applause, and nothing comes. we want to celebrate those moments and also the listeners‘ favourite bits, the bits that make them angry. get in touch with us. we will put them back on and discuss them. it will be serious and it will be fun at the same time. are there any subjects that people particularly get wound up that people particularly get wound up about? you know that is the one that everybody will phone in about? as you know, brexit will always elicit strong opinions. the nhs, eve ryo ne elicit strong opinions. the nhs, everyone feels really strongly. what iam everyone feels really strongly. what i am looking for from everyone feels really strongly. what i am looking forfrom our audience and from my guests is people getting

passionate over empty physical rhetoric, pulling up people when they say stuff we all know is not true and we all know what they are not saying. it is worrying away at those little things that i hope people get passionate about and we can all play a part in celebrating the programme and getting to grips with what the panellists on question time are saying and not saying. good luck. new programme. get in touch. we do need people to get in touch. you can send as a text any time and calls are free. and you can post on the bbc radio 5 live page. anything else? that will be all for the time being. good luck. thanks. the former england captain rio ferdinand has managed to put prince william on the spot over prince harry‘s wedding.

they were doing some filming for a mental health charity when rio ferdinand asked exactly what he would be doing on the 19th may. there is the matter of a small wedding that will happen this year — of course, your brother — we‘re very happy for him... it was a big decision. are we going to wembley, or are we going to... laughter still working it out. i'll have to see what i can do. ithink, you know, having that, and that is apt to talk about the best man, so to speak... that relationship that you have... he hasn't asked yet! sorry. it could be a sensitive issue. laughter a firm that supply aid lingerie to the queen has lost its royal warrant after producing a book that richard

—— that reveals details of royal fittings. rigby pelle said it was deeply saddened by the decision. buckingham palace said it did not comment on individual companies. the forecast. a quiet weather day. not without its problems. the fog has been stubborn in areas. we had lovely pictures sentin in areas. we had lovely pictures sent in by the weather watchers, and that was devon, in contrast with this. even here there are breaks in the cloud that will allow fog to form overnight and we have remnants of the sunshine further west and as the sun goes down, the fog picking up the sun goes down, the fog picking up again. with the weakening weather front further east we could see fog

at lower levels. clearly there are warnings about for that. temperatures will fall close to freezing so they could be some freezing so they could be some freezing fog around. friday, we start to pick up breeze in northern ireland. additionally fog here, but it should lift readily. not in the mainland of scotland and north—west england where it looks like we will have thick fog. parts of wales in the midlands, the west country and even parts of east anglia and south—east could see fog. and it will be cold. we have still got the rather weak weather front across eastern areas, keeping it grey. for one reason or another it could be a miserable start. drizzle with the weather system in the east. and a big change towards the west, starting wet as the rain arrives, as we go through the night, but it will

fizzle out and it does mean milder weather. a different day with a lot of cloud. still grade for many and this time with some rain, albeit light rain as it gets into the western fringes of england, wales and scotland. temperatures do not recover much. it is cold and we are sitting under cloud. almost swamped by the next weather system. a lot of cloud around. behind this weather system the big change. as we go into next week we are in for colder weather and potentially wet and windy weather, as well. hello, you‘re watching afternoon live. i‘m simon mccoy. today at 4pm: patients dying in hospital corridors as safety is compromised by "intolerable" conditions — the warning from doctors in a letter to the prime minister. plastic—free supermarket aisles and a 5p bag charge extended to small shops — theresa may pledges to eradicate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042. downing street says britain will not hold a second eu referendum

after nigel farage said he‘s warming to the idea. so, maybe, just maybe, i‘m reaching the point of thinking that we should have a second referendum... on? because... on what? on eu membership. the whole thing? yes, of course, of course. hundreds of rescuers comb wreckage in southern california, searching for those still missing after mudslides that have killed 17. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport. johanna konta has a tough task at the australian open. she faces a tough time through the draw this time around. i will talk to you at 4:30pm. and helen has the weather,

with this fog around. we're hoping we will get rid of it at the weekend, but next week something colder. coming up, the firm that made the queen‘s lingerie loses buckingham palace‘s seal of approval. hello everyone. this is afternoon live. it‘s a very bleak picture of the nhs this winter — and it‘s painted in a letter from doctors to the prime minister. they say that patients are dying in the corridors of accident and emergency units in england and wales as safety is compromised by "intolerable" conditions. and the pressure is growing — nhs staff have been faced with rising numbers of flu cases and respiratory illness — with a8 flu—related deaths in england so far this winter. our health correspondent catherine burns reports. is that the one that you want? yeah. rosie dawson was in severe pain when

she went to a&e last week. she had a gynaecological problem and was bleeding heavily, but the hospital was so busy that she was examined on a trolley in a busy corridor. i think i was trolley number 12 and there were trolleys going all the way up. you can‘t see to someone‘s dignity, you can‘t ensure they are having a private conversation and that if they break down in tears, which i think i did, i think i‘m pretty sure that i cried as well, but you can‘t look into anybody‘s kind of right to privacy or anything like that. today, doctors from almost half the a&e units in england and wales have written to the prime minister saying that plans for the winter had failed to deliver anywhere near what was needed. they talk about patients dying in hospital corridors under intolerable conditions. in terms of these winter pressures that we see the nhs under, there have been a number of measures that we have taken that have helped. for example, for the first time ever, urgent gp appointments being available

throughout the christmas period. but still, figures from nhs england show that at some point last week, just 3% of hospital trusts in england had enough beds free to provide safe care. they are supposed to have no more than 85% of beds occupied, but on thursday, just four out of 137 trusts were below that safe level. to add to this, more statistics showing that december was the worst month for a&e waiting times since records began in 2004. 3000 patients in england were not seen within the four—hour waiting target. and so, a warning that this is a watershed moment for the nhs. we have now clearly reached the point where the nhs cannot meet the standards of care that we would, all of us in the nhs, ministers included, want to provide. so the key question is, do we abandon those standards, and none of us in the nhs will do that, or does the government make the decisions it needs to make about the long—term funding and it needs to make those

decisions quickly. authorities in wales and northern ireland say they are under pressure too, and a&e waiting times in scotland hit their worst ever levels at the end of december. the message from health care professionals is that despite staff‘s best efforts, the nhs is chronically underfunded and the government must act soon. with me now is taj hassan from the royal college of emergency medicine. i‘m guessing that letter paints a picture you are all too familiar with. we absolutely recognise the conditions that the clinical leaders in emergency departments have portrayed in the letter to the prime minister. what does that mean in practice? when they talk about people dying in corridors, is that something you see on a regular

basis, people suffering as a result of actions you cannot make? there is no doubt that if you have crowded and emergency departments you are more likely to come to harm as a patient, so there are eight international studies that have proven that, the more crowded your emergency department, the greater the risk to the patient, and the risk is delays to assessment and pain relief, to an semiotic therapy and a whole range of other measures. what does that mean for a doctor or nurse when they see people are suffering and there‘s they can do? at the heart of what a nurse or doctor wants to do in an emergency department, they want to deliver a decent care for the patient and when they have to manage not only their own patients coming in at also the 20 or 40 or 60 patients who might be

waiting for a bed, so they are effectively taking care of two or three wards full of patients who should be in the rest of the hospital. and this is a key issue, the availability of beds, and were talking about a wintertime when nora virus means a lot of beds have been put out of action and pressure is increasing. it is, and much effort has been put in by colleagues in nhs england and others to help us prefer that we as a college predicted in the summer that we were not going to be prepared, there were not going to be prepared, there were not enough beds in our systems or funding in social care to get patients who were well enough to get back into the community and our staffing structures were not adequate. we are unlikely that we agreed back in october, a good agreement with nhs england and

health education in england, to a medium—term solution. when does that kick in? we hope the first signs of that will kick in in april orjune this year but it will take time. we need to make sure we prioritise it well so our workforce is sustainable and resilient. jeremy hunt insists he keeps hisjob but takes on social care. is that something you would say, about time? i am pleased he has taken that approach. i hope to see him again in the next couple of weeks, we were at number 10 yesterday discussing these issues. you probably tell them what you cannot say to me, it is this bad and what would you do about it? what response you get? there is a

recognition about how bad the situation is for our staff and patients in emergency departments and the rest of the hospital, but almost the barometer is very hot in the emergency department, so what we need to do is address that a number ten and the secretary of state staff understand the issues and we are trying to make sure that we are assistant leaders provide solid collaborative solutions they can ta ke forward. collaborative solutions they can take forward. there must be evenings you go home and wonder what you have been through. i do, so i work, like many colleagues, i work day shifts and night shifts and there are times you were standing there at 1am and there are many patients still to be seen, waiting for beds and many patients you feel you were not able to do patients you feel you were not able todoa patients you feel you were not able to do a good job for, that if the

system worked well, it would be better. thank you for coming in, and also just better. thank you for coming in, and alsojust thank better. thank you for coming in, and also just thank you. and if you want to find out more about how your nhs trust is performing, you can use our nhs tracker on the bbc news website. the uk government has refused a request by ecuador to provide diplomatic status to julian assange. ecuador says it granted naturalisation to him last month. the prime minister has pledged to eliminate avoidable plastic waste within 25 years — as part of a far reaching plan to improve britain‘s environment. she has urged supermarkets to introduce isles where shoppers can buy products with no plastic packaging. a small charge for disposable plastic bags will also be extended to all shops, notjust big retailers. theresa may called plastic waste

"one of the great environmental scourges of our time". but environmentalists have criticised the plans saying they lack "urgency, detail and bite". here‘s our environment analyst, roger harrabin. there‘s huge public anxiety about plastic litter, since david attenborough‘s blue planet series revealed sea creatures eating plastic waste. the prime minister‘s surfing that wave of concern, aiming for votes from young people who care deeply about the environment they will inherit. while the water in our rivers and beaches are cleaner than ever before, around the world 8 million tonnes of plastic makes its way into the oceans each year. she urged supermarkets to introduce aisles where shoppers can buy products with no plastic packaging. a small charge for disposable plastic bags will also be extended to all shops, notjust big retailers. and she announced government funding for plastics innovation. but is mrs may being

ambitious enough? she said all avoidable plastic waste should be stopped by 2042. that‘s 25 years from now. environmentalists are not impressed. we don‘t think it‘s urgent enough, we don‘t think it‘s robust enough and we don‘t think it‘s detailed enough. the oceans, which are bearing the brunt of our addiction to throwaway plastic, can‘t wait 25 years for solutions. but plastics form just part of the government‘s 25—year plan for the environment launched today. the environment is something personal to each of us. but it is also something which collectively we hold in trust for the next generation, and we have a responsibility to protect and enhance it. but it‘s a crowded island we live on. woodlands, like here at lodge hill in kent, have been decimated over the decades. this is the uk‘s prime site for nightingales,

but the local council wants to build much—needed houses on part of it. if housing development was to go ahead at lodge hill, it would constitute the biggest destruction of one of our finest wildlife sites for 25 years. and at a time when the government has clearly expressed a commitment to restoring nature, it seems madness to conceive, let alone to consent, to such a development. a walk in the woods is good for your mental and physical health. the government‘s acknowledged that. it wants to increase woodland cover, especially near where people live. it wants to bring back wildflower meadows and improve rare habitats like heathlands. but the pressure‘s on for development. we have a housing target we have to meet of 29,500 between now and 2035 — huge demand in medway and in north kent for housing, affordable housing and a whole housing mix, and those houses have to go somewhere. there‘s pressure on the natural

world from road—building, too. the department for transport can‘t foresee a time when new roads won‘t be needed. the rail line hs2 will damage many ancient woodlands. and the farmers‘ union is demanding that all prime agricultural land is kept forfarming, not wildlife, to maximise food output. but the government‘s plan for nature will attempt to bring some nature back to farmland and replenish depleted soils. environmentalists welcome the government‘s plans to restore britain‘s nature, but the problem, they say, is that, so far, it isjust a plan. to really convince them, ministers would need to introduce legislation and there seems no sign of that. frankie mccamley is outside a supermarket in south london. this will be the front line in this

battle, when it? yes, this is where consumers will see some of those big changes that the government wants to introduce. in supermarkets they want to see plastic free aisles and a charge put on single use plastic items like takeaway containers, and it‘s not just supermarkets, items like takeaway containers, and it‘s notjust supermarkets, the prime minister said she wants to see the five b bag charge put on all retailers. i‘ve been speaking to a few consumers to find out what they think. plastics are everywhere. i'm guilty of it too. i have a couple of little children, and things that don't need to be wrapped up are wrapped up. straws are the worst, and i use them. it would be so easy to use a hard straw and not the ones you chuck away. my new year's resolution is to use a metal bottle for water. i use too much plastic.

there‘s too much packaging anyway. if you order all this stuff from amazon, i‘ve just bought a new flat, new furniture, the place is drowning in packaging, cardboard, plastic... all kinds of stuff. they should do something about it. but i‘m not sure these plastic bags will work. we need something bigger than that, rather than just recyclable plastic bags. if you think about it, go into a supermarket and see how much wrapping is put on produce, it is ridiculous. that is the one thing that has happened, it has made me stop using large supermarkets. i push myself to come to grocery stores, and stores where people are selling products, go in my bag, put that produce into my bag and take it home. i avoid large supermarkets, specifically because i don't want to keep buying an apple wrapped in a plastic bag. a mixed response there. this is part

ofan a mixed response there. this is part of an environmental week for the government. the conservatives have been under pressure to tackle environmental issues, after it emerged this is a big problem for young voters that they want to see addressed. labour have said this is just a rebranding exercise for the conservatives. green campaigners welcomed this but said it needs to go much further and be introduced as laws. the lib dems said this 24 year target is too far away, things need to change and they need to change now. the prime minister urged supermarkets to introduce aisles where shoppers can buy products with no plastic packaging. well, joining me now is sian sutherland, co—founder of a plastic planet, an organisation that campaigns for such aisles. do you think we will see them soon?

i hope so. next month we will announce some big news where we will launch our first plastic free supermarket aisle, unfortunately not in the uk but it will be a northern european supermarket chain, it will be scalable and viable and convenient, and those are things we know we need. how does that work in practice? is it paper bags? nobody wa nts to practice? is it paper bags? nobody wants to go backwards in time to the days of shopping before, we are equally addicted to convenience as plastic so our vision of a plastic free aisles is one where it is an avenue for all the innovation happening now. there is a huge amount of innovation but we‘re not using it in this country, northern european countries are paying you read that and we will be pleased to introduce that the uk supermarkets.

how do you get your carrots home without a plastic bag? you can use a paper bag that you can also use some of the new forms of packaging that look and behave like plastic, protect our food and give us the convenience but are not actually indestructible plastic. they are biodegradable? yes, they are home disposable or compostable. this is not legally enforceable and the timescale has upset some people. yes, we need to accelerate that change but ourjob was to come up with a simple idea to give consumers choice, in a day when you can buy gluten—free work dairy free, you cannot buy plastic free, so we are keen for that to happen, then the

second part of ourjob is to help industry and governments in innovation, and get a lot of new technologies in there. we don‘t want to lose convenience, we don‘t want packaging free, we want plastic free. not long ago we were doing stories on that shop in devon that introduced a ban on plastic bags. how do you encourage this momentum with supermarkets and others?m will be by example. carrot rather than stick? yes, that is why we are relu cta nt to than stick? yes, that is why we are reluctant to come out and back a plastic tax because white is taxation always put as the solution? it didn‘t work with smoking or after a halt, it didn‘t work with oil, my whole childhood, ever more tax increases on those but the one thing

that made the difference was a seismic shift of banning smoking in public places, that made a huge change and we need more of those initiatives. and for supermarkets, what other incentives could there be? rather than using the stick of taxation, why can we get the carrot out and use that and give supermarkets business rate relief for every supermarket that introduces a plastic free aisles to give the public choice? thank you for coming in. you‘re watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. 68 senior a&e doctors write to the prime minister to say safety is at risk in england and wales. five the bag charge extended to small shops. the prime minister pledges to

eradicate plastic waste by 2042. searches in california for people missing during mudslides. jewellery stolen from the ritz hotel in paris. we will have the latest. johanna konta is playing in the opening round of the australian open, while organisers defend the decision to allow maria sharapova to take part in the draw ceremony, the same venue where she failed a doping test two yea rs where she failed a doping test two years ago, and 2a—year—old lancashire batsmen liam livingstone has been given a first call up to the test squad for england‘s tour of new zealand, and i will have more on those stories at 4:30pm. the prime minister‘s spokesman says britain will not hold a second eu referendum after nigel farage said

he‘s warming to the idea. the former ukip leader and brexit campaigner told channel 5‘s the wright stuff programme that he is close to backing a second brexit vote to end what he called the "whinging and whining" of anti—brexit campaigners. my mind is actually changing on this. what is certain is that the cleggs, the blairs, the adonises, will never ever give up. they will go on whingeing and whining and moaning all the way through this process. so, maybe, just maybe, i‘m reaching the point of thinking that we should have a second referendum... on? because... on what? on eu membership. the whole thing? yes, of course, of course. unless you want to have a multiple—choice referendum. no, no, no. which would confuse people. i think if we had a second referendum on eu membership, we‘d kill it off for a generation. i'm amazed... the percentage that would vote to leave next time would be very much bigger than it was last time round. and we mayjust finish the whole thing off and blaircan disappear off into total obscurity. i‘m joined now from westminster by two prominent campaigners on opposite sides of the brexit debate — the eurosceptic

conservative backbencher sir bill cash and the liberal democrats‘ brexit spokesperson tom brake. bill cash, are you upset by what nigel farage said? i'm not upset, i think he‘s wrong and the latest yougov poll just a think he‘s wrong and the latest yougov polljust a few think he‘s wrong and the latest yougov poll just a few weeks think he‘s wrong and the latest yougov polljust a few weeks ago said over 52% wanted to get on with the referendum we have already and the referendum we have already and the withdrawal act will go through the withdrawal act will go through the house of commons on the 17th of january, we have article 50 the route by 499 in the house of commons and the reality is that this referendum itself at the right question, to which the right answer was given by a significant majority and the turnout was 72%, the biggest vote in british history. tom brake,

we re vote in british history. tom brake, were you robbing your fans when you heard this? i go normally rub my hands when nigel farage has anything to say that in this respect, him supporting the idea of a vote, and we want a vote on the deal because what happened in 2016 is that people voted for many reasons about leaving the eu, but they now know that for instance leaving the eu will cost the uk £35 billion, they may well... there will be a vote but in the commons. there is a question about what exactly that will constitute because the prime minister talks about a meaningful vote but she some members of parliament could vote for whatever deal the government have struck for four new deal and i don't

think that is meaningful, so we need about four mps that includes them being able to tell the government we don't like what you have negotiated, go don't like what you have negotiated, go back and negotiate some more, but there should be a vote for the people because now they know there will be a £35 billion price tag and not, for instance, £350 million a week extra for the nhs, people are entitled to vote on the facts as they now present themselves. nigel farage argues we should have a second referendum to put these whingers and whiners, to use his words, put their arguments to an end and make tony blair and others no longer able to say what they are saying. the fact is that this bill which is now about to go through the house of commons contains the repeal

of the european communities act, which is everything nigel wants, and thatis which is everything nigel wants, and that is just one sentence, and also the idea that these negotiations are finalised is not true. we got into phase two but nothing is agreed until everything is agreed and if it turns out there was a complete granite wall at the end of the next range of negotiations, it may be that nigel would get what he wants, which is a hard brexit and the bottom line is that he may get what he wants from this referendum, so i find his position quite unconvincing and for him to be bedfellows with the liberal democrats is one of the funniest things i have seen in recent british politics. tom brake isn‘t laughing. recent british politics. tom brake isn't laughing. i don't suppose he

isn't laughing. i don't suppose he is but it‘s a fact because he‘s talking about revising something that parliament authorised by a sovereign act, and in order to have a second referendum you need another act in parliament and you also have to repeal the article 50 act which was passed by 499. so realistically, and downing street has said it, there will not be another referendum. what would change this is if we see, and bill carse quotes a survey, is if we see, and bill carse quotes a survey, i could quote another which says a majority of people now wa nt which says a majority of people now want us to stay in the eu, what would change the facts on the ground is if there was a substantial body of people who now say we should stay in the eu, the polls are moving that way, and there are a number of conservative mps who have indicated

to me off the record that at the point when we reach perhaps a 60—40 split... how many mps? they will start talking as they have done, and thatis start talking as they have done, and that is also true of labour mps. how many people are saying that to you? a government minister told me that, and members of parliament are both conservative and labour. tom is trying to put his best foot forward at the recent opinion poll, last month, only 16% said they wanted a second referendum and the liberal democrats have been putting down, tom has been slaving away in the house of commons to no avail because every time they put down an amendment they lose it, and we are on course for leaving, which was the

question, and if you have a second referendum, would you have another question? the actual question was, should the uk remain a member of the eu or leave? that needs the repeal of the european communities act, thatis of the european communities act, that is what happened, the biggest vote, the biggest turnout in british history, so for practical purposes theissue history, so for practical purposes the issue has been decided and the government will not have a second referendum. you were right to point out it was a big turnout but you forget that yesterday, there were 17 million people who voted to leave that 16 million voted to remain. we have heard these arguments, we are out of time, we know where you both stand, bill cash and tom brake, thank you both. the weather. helen. an old picture

for a reason because there is an anniversary. 63 years today since we have been on air with weather forecasts. and behind you, your predecessor. only just and behind you, your predecessor. onlyjust come of course! george cowling, a lovely gentleman. we got together for the 50th anniversary, quite a few years ago but i am showing my age. he had a back catalogue of the magazine weather. he passed them on. u nfortu nately, magazine weather. he passed them on. unfortunately, he is not with us now. people will tweet and say that those maps look clearer than anything... really? how many? how many said they were not as clear? none of those. iam none of those. i am sorry, helen. this is how we

use to present the weather. a basic weather map. you do not get much information. obviously george would have had five minutes on air to talk about it. that is all you want. what is happening? the wind is coming south. really? that is as good as it gets! we can tell a lot more nowadays but what is interesting is the lack of computers in those pictures and how in those days theyjust moved the weather forecast on by experience of knowing the way low—pressure moves and nowadays we know that but we have computer models to help. why not move on? it is stagnant at the moment and a grey day for many so the moment and a grey day for many soi the moment and a grey day for many so i thought i would cheer you up with some sunshine, this is lyme regis this afternoon. and this was highland earlier and now we have grey weather hanging around across

scarborough and eastern parts of england the last three, four days. it has been wet in the south—east this afternoon. unfortunately, where there are two skies, fog has started to thicken up. it has not cleared from northern ireland today but i‘m hopeful for tomorrow. frost forming overnight in parts of scotland. towns and cities staying above freezing. rain and drizzle around so if we get temperatures close to freezing ice could be a risk. and freezing ice could be a risk. and freezing fog, of course. not pleasa nt freezing fog, of course. not pleasant for your journey tomorrow morning. hopefully the fog all clear northern island in the morning because a breeze is coming. fog problems in north—west england, parts of wales, and even further east. because the weather front

starting to see some breaks, we could see fog just about anywhere and it will take time to clear. little energy in the sun at this time of year. i think it will be west that will be best for the sunshine again. there is a weather front in the wings. 6—8, not too bad, roundabout average. if you are stuck under the fog, it will feel cold. we just cold. wejust have hill fog overnight. it should alleviate frost problems overnight. the leak in northern ireland with the rain. tending to fizzle out but a wet day for west wales earned parts of scotland. mostly dry for the day on saturday further east and that is swamped by the weather front on sunday. cloud, drizzle and strengthening winds and sunday

night, it looks like many will have a spell of heavy rain. it will clear the misty weather but as it clears, we have a blast of arctic air and we are back to wintry weather and the risk of snow and i will tell you more about that later. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. accident and emergency waiting times in december were the worst for 13 years. separately, senior nhs doctors have written to the prime minister warning care is being compromised and claim some patients are dying prematurely. an environmental plan for the future — theresa may pledges to eradicate all avoidable plastic waste in the uk by 2042. the labour mp chris williamson has announced he is standing down as shadow fire minister so he can campaign on a wider range of issues from the backbenches. six months in prison — for a man who admitted setting off off fireworks on a busy street in scotland.

police say luckily nobody was hurt. sport now is sarah and we start with tennis and roger federer wants to make a return at the australian open. what a story last year, defying age and injury and a comeback after six months out and winning a grand slam title. he is back, at 36, this year will stop appearing relatively injury free compared to other big—name players. roger federer faces former britain now playing with slovenia aljaz bedene in the first round but injury worries for other players. novak djokovic is struggling coming into the tournament and rafa nadal pulled out of brisbane and andy murray is out altogether and also stan wawrinka, questions over their form. perhaps a chance for rising stars like dominic

thiem or alexander zverev to stake a claim. what about somebody who is british? kyle edmund, in place of andy murray, the sole male representative from great britain. but he has injury concerns. he pulled out of the auckland international. johanna konta, the british number one, the best chance, making the semis two yea rs best chance, making the semis two years ago. a tougher draw to get here. she could face the world number one simona halep in the quarters and heather watson and naomi broady could join them if she gets through qualifying. we can checkin gets through qualifying. we can check in with our tennis correspondent. johanna konta has won only one of their four matches. her opponent is currently 92 in the world. if konta makes progress she will be having some challenging matches but given how she finished last season, losing five in a row, she will relish that opportunity at a venue where she has a very good record.

she could play a recent world number one, pliskova, in the fourth round and the current world number one simona halep in the quarterfinals, but that‘s a conversation for another day. heather watson meanwhile will start against the world number 50 from kazakhstan, a player ranked slightly higher than she is. cameron norrie is defeating qualifying means it willjust be kyle edmund in the member is a draw for britain. against kevin anderson, they played last year in the third round of roland garros and kyle edmund have the advantage but lost in five sets. the advantage for kyle edmund, he can beat anderson in the opening round and playing well, assuming the ankle scare from last week in brisbane is not a major concern, he would find himself in a

reasonably favourable section of the draw after that. australian open tournament director craig tiley has defended the decision to invite maria sharapova to the draw ceremony. with defending champion serena williams missing the tournament organisers controversially chose sharapova to represent the women. the russian entered margaret court arena — the same venue where she failed a doping test for meldonium two years ago. but tiley cited sharapova‘s status as a former champion, with the russian lifting the trophy 10 years ago. james vince and mark stoneman have kept their places in england‘s test squad for the tour of new zealand, despite struggling with the bat in the ashes defeat. bowler mark wood is also back. the newly appointed lancashire captain said he could adjust to life as a test player. a lot of people see me asa test player. a lot of people see me as a white ball cricketer whereas i

see myself the other way round my stats show my strength is in red ball cricket. i have already had a taste of international experience with the 2. —— 2020s. england‘s one day side have beaten a cricket australia xi team, in a warm—up match in sydney. just four days after that 4—0 ashes series defeat, the tourists switched formats and recorded a much—needed five—wicket victory. their opponents had just one full international in matt renshaw. having restricted the hosts to 258 for nine captain eoin morgan hit an unbeaten 81 to lead his side to victory. nba comes to london tonight as the boston celtics and philadelphia 76ers go head to head at the o2 arena. despite the increasing popularity of basketball in this country, nba chief adam silver says the chances of a british based team are increasing unlikely. if you had said to me 15 years ago

by 2018 there will be a chance you will have a team in europe or in london, and i would have said, fairly likely. i think we have learned more about the impact of travel, changing time zones, fatigue on our players, especially in correlation with injuries, so we have actually gone the other way. so it is not something we are ruling out. it may be we have to completely revamp our schedules are set from the first until the last day of the season. so there is no doubt that innovation volcano have an impact. that is all the sport. now on afternoon live, let‘s go nationwide and see what‘s happening around the country — in our daily visit to the bbc newsrooms around the uk. sally magnusson is in glasgow with details on plans announced by the scottish government to ban the sale and manufacture of plastic—stemmed cotton—buds.

and a little later peter levy is in hull to tell us about a service held to mark the fiftieth anniversary of one of the worst disasters in hull‘s fishing heritage. first, sally, what exactly is the scottish government proposing? what it wants to do is to ban the sale and manufacture of plastics stemmed cotton buds in scotland and this is what they look like, very handy for getting rid of the scarborough blotches. and cleaning out earwax. but the plastic stem means they are the most common piece of litter found on beaches because people insist on flushing them down the toilet. they are a menace to see animals and birds that swallow them. the government reckons and environmentalists agree that the ban could cut scotland‘s contribution to marine pollution by half and the

good news is there are plenty of alternatives. this kind, you can see it, it has a paper stem and is biodegradable. it does the same job. cleaning out orifices as required. 0h, sally! plastic we are talking about more generally today but scotla nd about more generally today but scotland has a particular record on environmental measures like this. scotland has a particular record on environmental measures like thism is generally recognised the scottish government has been proactive in this area and was the first part of the uk to bring in a charge for plastic bags and also announced a deposit and return scheme for drinks bottles a nd deposit and return scheme for drinks bottles and cans and there is a study being done on single use coffee cups. but everybody feels they are going far enough. patrick harvie of the greens, said in holyrood today that by talking about litter it is an implication it is

consumer behaviour but he thinks the responsibility lies with petrochemical companies. we can go to peter in hull. the worst fishing disaster 50 years ago. what happened? it disaster 50 years ago. what happened ? it was disaster 50 years ago. what happened? it was 50 years ago and at the time hull was the heart of the fishing industry and a thriving and huge industry here. three trawlers in the space of weeks in 1968 all went down with the loss of 58 lives. only one person survived. onjanuary the 11th, the first of the three trawlers issued a mayday call and went down 11 miles off spurn point. today in hull was a simple ceremony to remember the lost crew. it may be 50 yea rs to remember the lost crew. it may be 50 years ago but this is a tight—knit community and at the time fishing was a huge industry with hull the centre of the world as far

as fishing is concerned and all these years later, sons and daughters, grandchildren, remember loved ones lost on the three trawlers in 1968. what happened to the industry, how did it change after the tragedy is? that is a good question. after the three tragedies, the fishermen‘s wives were angry and wa nted the fishermen‘s wives were angry and wanted changes and they rebelled. they were led by a lady called lillian who got a petition of 10,000 signatures and she said, if i don‘t get satisfaction i will be at wilson‘s house until i do. harold wilson‘s house until i do. harold wilson was the prime minister at the time. there was an enquiry and from that day the industry changed for ever. radio operators, better training and more safety equipment. the tragedies changed the industry

not just for the tragedies changed the industry notjust for hull the tragedies changed the industry not just for hull but the tragedies changed the industry notjust for hull but around the uk and there will be more ceremonies for the other two trawlers. both went down with the loss of 38 lives. peter plenty more on your programme later. and sally, thank you both very much. if you would like to see more on those stories you can access them on bbc iplayer and a reminder we go nationwide every weekday afternoon at 4:30pm here. in california rescue teams are searching for 17 people who are still missing after the flash floods and mudslides on tuesday. 17 people are known to have died when a torrent of mud carrying boulders the size of small cars smashed through the town of montecito. over 100 homes have been destroyed. the area in santa barbara county was onlyjust recovering from the recent devastating wildfires.

our north american correspondent james cook is there. in montecito, they are still combing the ruins, looking for survivors. but with every hour that passes, hope fades. the surge of mud and debris was just too powerful. it consumed everything before it, turning homes to matchwood. we had, you know, between us, a dear friend that didn‘t make it. he lives upstream. and that was brutal. they got blown right out of the house. his wife is still alive. the kids are traumatised, of course. it came really close. it came right up to our hedges. thank god that it didn't take out our home or our car and our children are safe. but, yeah, our neighbours weren't as fortunate. more than 500 firefighters and other rescue teams have been working around the clock, hoping beyond hope that they can still save lives. i have been a firefighter for 26 years. yeah, for most people that are here on this incident, we have never seen an event like this. parts of the town are still cut off, but some residents have been returning to inspect the damage.

the house being gone isjust a house, you know. it'sjust some clothes in a house. but in a neighbourhood this small, every single name that turns up is someone's dad, someone's cousin, someone's teacher, and that's got to be the worst part of it all, i think. we're just happy for everyone that makes it. the sky lit up because some buildings have blown up. the gas mains, it turns out. here is all this fire coming down, and fire going up, and here is all this rain coming down, and you wonder, what‘s happening? i mean, it was an incredible experience. that was the bunny that i missed catching. oh, my gosh. i was in the kitchen, trying to get out through the back when we saw the wall of water coming. i couldn't reach her. we had our dog. grabbed our dog. we grabbed our dog by the collar, but missed the cats and the cat and the bunny and the water hit and knocked out... went through our house,

took everything. but somehow, in the cage... the firefighters found her and we found this on top of our car. i thought i would find a dead bunny in it, but she was alive. amazing. the mudslide didn‘t just claim lives, it paralysed this part of california. this is the main motorway along the pacific coast, the 101 freeway. police say it will not be open until monday at the earliest. the trauma will last much longer. james cook, bbc news, montecito. in a moment the business news. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. 68 senior a&e doctors write to the prime minister saying patient safety is at risk in england and wales due to inadequate planning for winter. plastic—free supermarket aisles and a 5p bag charge extended to small shops — theresa may pledges to eradicate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042. hundreds of rescuers comb wreckage in southern california searching

for those still missing after mudslides kill 17 people. here‘s your business headlines on afternoon live. it looks as if the big retailers had mixed fortunes over the christmas period. tesco, waitrose and john lewis all saw a jump in sales. but the likes of marks and spencer and house of fraser had disappointing sales. we‘ll have more on this in a moment. one of the country‘s oldest amusement parks seems to have been rescued. dreamland in margate went into administration in 2016. but it‘s now secured £35 million of investment which will save more than 250 jobs. foreign students are worth an astonishing £20 billion

to the economy, according to the higher education policy institute. it says this helps almost every part of the economy — and any fall in student numbers would hurtjobs. i feel we have been ifeel we have been talking i feel we have been talking about them all week but the last slice of christmas retail figures. really important to the retailers, the christmas period, when they can make up to 50% of their income. marks & spencer is seeing sales fall and on the other side, tesco, where sales have gone up. we can get more on this. i‘m nowjoined from edinburgh by richard dunbar from aberdeen standard investments. why the mixed picture? it is a mixed picture but all companies highlight a difficult environment on the high street and expected online and a difficult environment for the uk

consumer. tesco did well with sales up consumer. tesco did well with sales upjust over 3% consumer. tesco did well with sales up just over 3% but disappointing in the run—up to christmas hence shares are down today. marks & spencer going backwards on the high street in clothing and in their food business, which had been a beacon of hopein business, which had been a beacon of hope in the past few years. john lewis is showing strong sales. they mixed picture but the general message from all three management teams is a tough high street and online pretty competitive and profitability under pressure. 5p on plastic bags no matter how small the retailer, watch will be —— what will be the impact? revenue that will be passed on to charity but it has had a big impact in northern ireland and scotla nd a big impact in northern ireland and scotland where the charge has reduced the demand for plastic bags up reduced the demand for plastic bags up to 50% so i think that forces is

all to do what is undoubtedly the right thing. thanks. that's it. i think. see you next time. two men are on the run in france after taking part in a smash and grab raid on the ritz hotel in paris. three other members of the gang were caught at the scene — but the pair who escaped made off with an estimated three—and—a—half million pounds worth ofjewels, as dan johnson reports. a large police response outside the paris ritz after a gang, armed with axes, carried out a violent raid. it isn‘tjust the christmas lights that sparkle here. there are jewels on display to match the wealth of the guests at one of the world‘s most exclusive hotels. the robbers arrived in place vendome on scooters at around six in the evening local time, smashing windows on the ground floor of the hotel. it is estimated they tookjewels worth 4 million euros. but police officers interrupted the raid and arrested three of the five men. paris has seen this before.

in october 2016, us reality tv star kim kardashian had a gun put to her head as a gang stole 10 million euros—worth of her jewellery. only one piece was ever seen again. it is not clear how much was recovered from this latest raid. police are still searching for two of the men involved. don johnson, bbc news. a firm that supplied lingerie to the queen has lost its royal warrant after releasing a book called storm in a d—cup, which revealed details of royal bra fittings. the company, rigby & peller, had held the royal warrant for more than 50 years. it said it was "deeply saddened" by the decision. buckingham palace has said it does not "comment on individual companies". june kenton bought rigby & peller with her husband in the eighties before selling a majority stake in the firm seven years ago — although she remains on the board. she is also the author of the book storm in a d cup, which is currently at the centre

of a storm itself. how did the palace to view they were withdrawing the warrant? how did the palace to view they were withdrawing the warra nt?|j how did the palace to view they were withdrawing the warrant? i had a letter. i just had withdrawing the warrant? i had a letter. ijust had a letter, nothing else, just to say that the royal warrant was being withdrawn because they did not like what i had said in they did not like what i had said in the book. in the book, you go into detail about... not really. all i the book. in the book, you go into detail about... not really. alll do is say when i met her for the first time. i have never ever spoken about any customer who i have fitted in the sitting room, let alone the queen. ijust mentioned all about the conversation we had, because she obviously was as nervous probably as i was, obviously was as nervous probably as iwas, or obviously was as nervous probably as i was, or maybe not as much as i was, and she put me at my ease and was, and she put me at my ease and was wonderful. you talk about going past workrooms, an area you are

expected to see glitz and glamour. it was grim and gloomy i think is how roughly you describe. you go into things that most people do not see at buckingham palace, therefore using your position, some would say. to go to where the queen‘s private apartments are, you have to go through where the flowers are done, the cooking is done, going through the cooking is done, going through the working areas, which is what i described, you walk through here, go up described, you walk through here, go up in the lift and then you are in her private apartment. do you think buckingham palace has overreacted?” think so because i have never spoken about a customer when she has come out of the sitting room, let alone the queen. maybe it was the lord chamberlain and not buckingham palace, i don‘t know. chamberlain and not buckingham palace, i don't know. do you think any lady of a certain age welcomes people talking about their fittings? are there things you should not talk

about? we never do. we never come out of the sitting room talking about a customer ever, so i certainly would not come out talking about the queen. i have never said a single word, so i feel whatever is in this book that i wrote for my family, of all the wonderful things that i have done during my life, i wrote this book, called it a storm inad wrote this book, called it a storm ina dcup wrote this book, called it a storm in a d cup and now it is a major storm. are you angry? i am upset. i cannot be angry with anything to do with buckingham palace. i am just upset it happened. people should buy the book and see whether they think iam right the book and see whether they think i am right or wrong. there is always a silver lining. there is, darling. thank you for coming in to talk about your book. a man has been sentenced to six months in prison after admitting to setting off fireworks

on a busy street in scotland last month. 48—year—old norman wood admitted to setting off fireworks on broad street in kirkwall. police scotland said it was lucky no one was injured in the incident. and now the weather. colder and more disturbed weather on the way but it is the lack of wind at the moment thatis is the lack of wind at the moment that is giving us fog problems. there has been sunshine and overnight, where we had sunshine the fog will form readily and where we have a weak weather front in the east, cloud is breaking so they could be fog at lower levels so just about anywhere there could be patches of thick fog. if you are travelling this evening and overnight and tomorrow morning, with temperatures close to freezing it could be freezing fog we could be waking up to. when it clears we will

have a lot of cloud. the next weather system is pushing in, lifting fog in northern ireland but bringing cloud and feeling cold. with sunshine, still only 5—6dc. the weekend, we will see cloud, rain, but the next issue is fog. today at 5... patients are dying in corridors — the stark warning from more than 60 a&e doctors who‘ve written an open letter to the prime minister. they say conditions are at times intolerable despite the best efforts of staff. i think i was trolley number 12, and two more people came in after me. and they said, we can‘t take any more trolleys, so the ambulance was then having to wait outside. also — the number of people admitted to hospital with flu has doubled in the last week, gps are seeing almost 80% more cases. we will be discussing the pressures facing the nhs.

also today on bbc news at 5... plastic—free supermarket aisles and a 5p bag charge extended to small shops. theresa may lays out her 25—year—plan to improve the environment. rescuers are desperately searching for at least 17 missing people